All We Have to Survive is Each Other
by Halawen
Summary: Clare's family runs a ship, a floating school for bad kids and kids with a problems. A new school year is beginning and new kids are coming aboard. This year promises to be more adventurous and perilous than anyone can imagine. Drama fluff, smut, a bit of everything in this one. Please read A/Ns.
1. Our Adventure Begins

**Welcome to the new short story! This is dedicated to Jenne11 whom requested it.**

 **Legal stuff: I do not own and am not associated with DeGrassi or Epitome**

 **All the very important things to know before reading:**

 ***This fic is 100% A/U**

 ***Everyone is from different cities, no one grew up together or went to school together (except for the families)**

 ***I did not mess with families (well Clare's a smidge) but I did change people's ages see below**

 **Jay (18)**

 **Owen (17)**

 **Fitz (17)**

 **Zig (15)**

 **Drew (17)**

 **Dallas (16)**

 **Luke (16)**

 **Johnny (17)**

 **Bruce (17)**

 **Adam (16)**

 **Sean (17)**

 **Bianca (17)**

 **Grace (15)**

 **Alli (16)**

 **Zoe (15)**

 **Katie (17)**

 **Lexi (18)**

 **Amy (16)**

 **Manny (15)**

 ***Clare's family consist of Glen & Helen Edwards ~ Darcy (19), Jake (18), Clare (16) and Peter (20) is engaged to Darcy**

 ***Drew and Adam are brothers in this still**

 ***FYI the type of ship Barque is pronounced Bark**

 **Ch. 1 Our Adventure Begins**

 **(FITZ)**

The bus pulls up to Ogden Point, Victoria Harbor and I get off slowly grabbing my suitcase and duffel from the cargo area. Another boy, that got on the bus with me at Vancouver airport, grabs a couple of bags and then looks at the docks. It's been a long trip from Niagara Falls to Victoria, B.C. for me and I don't want to be here, the other boy doesn't look like he wants to be here either.

"Are you on the bad kids cruise too?" I ask him. He's about an inch taller than me, brawny and athletic looking with short cropped black hair and dark blue eyes.

"Yep sailing around the world with a bunch of juvenile delinquents and a family," he says rolling his eyes before extending his hand, "I'm Owen."

"Fitz," I reply shaking his hand, "guess we should find this ship. Do you remember what it was called?"

"Fang something or other I think," Owen shrugs.

We go down to the docks and start looking at the ships. There aren't a whole lot of ships here and most of them are large cruise ships, Owen taps my arm nodding to one at the end of the dock. The ship is getting supplies loaded onto it and it's the only one here that looks like a historical ship with big masts and a lot of sails that are currently rolled up.

"That must be it," I nod in agreement.

As we walk over we see a girl on one of the net things that are connected to the masts. The girl is in little white shorts and a bikini top, Owen and I both whistle at the sight at the same time.

"Look at that ass," I grin.

"Maybe this cruise won't suck so much after all, I think I'll bunk with that babe," Owen says.

"Hey no hitting on my sister," a boy reprimands us. He's tall and thin with light brown hair that's spiked and he has green eyes. He's also holding a clipboard and glaring at us just a little, for the comments about his sister I assume. "I'm Jake and that's Clare on the shroud do not refer to her as babe. Now who are you two?"

"Mark Fitzgerald but everyone calls me Fitz," I tell him.

"Mark Fitzgerald check," Jake says and I twist my mouth at him for calling me by my first name.

"Owen Milligan."

"Owen Milligan check. Take your bags up to the deck and wait there," Jake tells us.

We pick up our bags and walk up the ramp to the deck of the old ship. As soon as we get up we watch Clare climbing down the shroud. She hops down and smiles at us when she turns and sees us.

"I'm Fitz," I grin at her.

"I'm Owen," he says shoving me out of the way slightly.

"Good to meet you I'm Clare," she responds with a smile.

"We know Jake told us," I reply.

"I have some other things to do before we set sail I'll see you later," she comments before walking off.

We watch her walk away but soon get distracted by more people coming on deck. A thin girl with brown hair and dark eyes and a boy about my height, pretty slight and with hair with a shade similar to mine.

"Hey I'm Katie," the girl nods and seems to despise being here.

"I'm Sean," the boy says.

"Fitz."

"Owen."

"You seen anyone else running this ship besides Jake?" Sean asks us while Katie sits down with a huff.

"Yeah his sister Clare she's hot but we haven't seen anyone else besides you two."

Another group of kids show up as Sean, Owen and I are talking about our home towns, two boys and three girls that introduce themselves as Drew, Adam, Lexi, Alli and Grace. We start talking to them and then Jake comes aboard leading what I assume to be the last group of kids as he's no longer waiting on the dock. Jake just stands there with his clipboard so we introduce ourselves to this group who go by the names of Jay, Bruce, Amy, Manny, Bianca, Zoe, Johnny, Dallas, Luke and Zig.

After a few minutes Clare rejoins us, wearing a shirt this time and I'm a little disappointed. She stands with a tall boy with blonde hair and another hot girl, this one has red hair and is skinny. And then two adults come out of a doorway that looks like it leads to an office of sorts.

"Welcome aboard the Fanga Dagen students. I am Captain Glen Edwards; you will address me as Captain or Mr. Edwards. This is my wife Dr. Helen Edwards; you will address her as Mrs. Edwards or Dr. Edwards. This is our daughter Darcy and her fiancé Peter," he says motioning to the redhead and the blonde boy. "And this is our son Jake and our youngest daughter Clare," Captain Glen tells us and Clare makes a face at being referred to as the youngest. "You are all here for various reasons, some of you to learn discipline and others," Glen remarks looking specifically at Adam, "are here to get some time and distance, to heal and get some confidence. No matter why you are here this is a huge opportunity for all of you. We sail around the world but you will be doing a full year of school, you will learn everything about this ship and how to sail it and you will learn to work together. We are nearly full this semester with eleven boys and nine girls and first you need to get a bunk and unpack. Girls please grab your things and follow Clare to the girl's bunk. Boys please gather your things and follow Jake to the boy's bunk. You have 30 minutes to settle in and reassemble on the deck for cast off."

Everyone grabs their bags and we follow Clare and Jake around to a set of stairs and down to another part of the ship. Clare takes the girls into one door on one side of the narrow hallway and Jake takes us into the other. It's a long but fairly narrow room with twelve bunks, two rows of three on each side. Between each set of bunks is a built-in dresser and wardrobe, at the other end of the room is a door marked **Head** which I know means bathroom because I saw it in a movie. Jake walks all the way to end of the room putting his hand on the top bunk of the right side.

"This is my bunk the rest of you can choose any bunk you like," Jake tells us and we all start scrambling for bunks. We sit on them or toss our stuff on them to claim the bunks as ours. Owen grabs the top bunk right behind Jake's and I get the bunk under his. "Your clothes go in the dresser and wardrobe, each bunk gets two drawers and half the wardrobe, laundry is done every week and you will not need that many clothes. Toiletries go in the head; you all get one shelf and one drawer in the head. There are three sinks, three toilets and two showers. Each bunk has a shelf near the top, a small one so only keep the things you need with you daily. You now have twenty minutes to unpack and settle in. And if you get any ideas about trying to sneak over to the girl's bunk while unpacking, don't. Clare and I will be in the hallway to keep everyone in the rooms until it's time to assemble on the deck," Jake says before stepping out of the room and closing the door.

"I though this cruise was going to suck but did you see the babes on this ship? I wonder if that Darcy is faithful?" Bruce comments to the room as we start unpacking.

"All the hot girls on the ship and you want to go after the only one that's taken? You have problems," Adam censures Bruce.

"Shh you're supposed to lie low," Drew scolds Adam and I can tell that they know each other.

"Did anyone read the rules about dating on this cruise?" Johnny asks.

"No, why did you?" Sean inquires.

"No just asking, I mean they can't keep us from fraternizing with the girls their cabin is right across the hall from ours. And I'm sure there's lots of hidden places on this ship," Johnny replies.

"Ten minutes let's move," Jake calls opening the door a little and we can hear Clare doing the same with the girls.

"Maybe you should wait until after we see Hawaii and the honeys there before you get with any of the girls on the ship," Jay remarks.

"Hawaii will be sweet, lying out on the beaches watching the girls in bikinis," Drew grins.

"Somehow I don't think we're going to get that luxury," Adam replies rolling his eyes a little.

We finish unpacking and leave the room. Jake makes us line up single file to follow him out to the deck again. Clare is still leaning on the wall next to the girl's cabin so I know the girls are still unpacking which seems typical. As we go up to the deck she yells at the girls that they have two minutes. When we get on deck Jake lines us up in a row of six and row of five in front of them.

"While we wait on the girls let's see how much you know about the ship," Peter says. "Can anyone tell me what type of ship this is?"

"A sailboat," Bruce remarks.

"Wrong. This is a Barque three mast rigged sailing vessel. Barque's are often grouped in with Schooners. Now does anyone know what Fanga Dagen means or what language it is?" Peter questions. There's a few seconds of silence before Bianca speaks up.

"I think it's Swedish but I don't know what it means," she says.

"It is Swedish and it means Seize the Day," Peter informs us. He begins to ask another question but then a shrill whistle sounds and finally the girls come up and line up on the deck in front of us, a row of five and then a row of four.

"Girl's cabin you were late you will learn efficiency on this Ship. Clare?" Captain Glen asks looking at her.

"Lexi, Manny, Alli, Amy and Zoe were holding us up," Clare replies.

"Congratulations you five will be polishing brass as soon as we cast off," Captain Glen tells them and they all make faces.

"I've got some brass you can polish," Bruce grins grabbing his crotch.

"Sailor that is not how we talk aboard my ship. You must have respect for your fellow crew, you've just earned yourself a week of cleaning all the heads on the ship. Now we're going to begin cast off procedures listen closely because you will all have a job," Captain Glen says.

He then splits us into groups and we follow one of the Edwards family to learn our job and cast off the ship. Owen and I get put in the same group which goes with Peter to hoist the anchor. Until we're out of the harbor there's a lot of yelling and the Edward's family barking commands at us. Once we're going and all the sails are down it's pretty cool though.

First thing we get is a tour of the ship given by Dr. Edwards. She shows us all the areas, including her and Captain Glen's quarters which we are not allowed in and Darcy and Peter's quarters that we are also not allowed in. She tells us a little about various parts of the ship and we go over what to call things on the ship, like instead of saying front and back it's forward and aft and that sort of thing. There's only one classroom and it's down in the bottom of the ship where all the storage is. Dr. Edwards tells us that we'll also be meeting in Captain Edwards office and on the deck for classroom stuff.

After the tour the five girls that are getting punished for making their group late have to go polish brass. The rest of us meet with the captain to get our jobs for the first week. We'll rotate every week so we'll all be learning every job on the ship. I get kitchen duty which means I have to cook all week and I'm not real thrilled about it as I've never made anything but toast. Peter runs the galley and he seems cool so maybe it will be okay. Sean, Lexi and Zoe also got kitchen duty for the first week. Zoe starts annoying me about ten minutes into being around her but I like Sean, Lexi is a little aloof and kind of bitchy but she has moments where she seems cool. Maybe when I get to know here better I'll like her more.

We get right to work since it will be dinner time soon. Peter shows us how to bring stuff up from the store rooms using the companionway. Tonight, we're having chicken with potatoes and salad. I've never cooked in my life but Peter's a pretty good teacher and seems like a cool guy. After cooking we take everything out to the dining hall which is connected to the kitchen. Everyone eats now except Jake and his skeleton deck crew who will eat after we do.

"Every night we take turns on night duty. Those that have galley duty for the week will always take the first shift because they get up early to make breakfast. On night duty you will be responsible for all parts of the ship while the rest of us sleep. It is a time to work not a time to party, we keep hot chocolate and coffee stocked in the kitchen for those that need it. You will always have myself or one of my family with you during night shift," Captain Glen tells us as we begin eating.

"How long is night duty?" Drew asks.

"Each shift will be two hours. It doesn't sound like much but if you're woken from a sound sleep at two in the morning for your shift it can be hard to stay awake," Dr. Edwards comments.

"Especially if the seas are really calm and you're watching the stars," Clare remarks and I get a vision of her lying on the deck watching the stars.

The galley staff gets a little free time after we eat while Jake and his crew eat. I start to walk back to the cabin when I see Clare at the front of the ship and I go over to her. She seems to be just watching the water, but looks over and smiles at me when I approach. It strikes me how clear blue her eyes are and how pretty she is.

"So how long has your family been doing this?" I ask her as I hold the rail, the bow is a lot rockier than the rest of the ship.

"This is our fourth year, Dad started it and hired Peter as head cook. Darcy, Jake and I were all still doing school for the first two years. Then Darcy graduated and I graduated the same year, Jake took his GED last year to be done with school. So now we're full crew and we teach," she tells me.

"You teach classes? Aren't most of these kids older than you?" I question and she giggles.

"Yeah but I was in the gifted program in school and completed high school at fourteen. I'm sure I'll go to a university at some point but I like doing this."

"So what do you teach?"

"Math, English and I help Mom with some of the science subjects."

"That's a lot but I guess you are real smart. I wasn't good at anything in school except auto shop," I confess.

"Don't worry I'm sure you'll do better when you're applying what you learn," she grins before walking off.

"I'll learn anything you want to teach me," I smile to myself when she's gone.

I stay up on the bow a few minutes before going down to the cabin to use the washroom, I mean head. There are a few more on the ship, one in the girl's cabin of course, Helen and Glen have their own and so do Darcy and Peter. One on the top deck near Glen's office, one at the dining area. When she was giving us the tour Doctor Edwards told us the heads and the kitchen were the only parts of the ship to be renovated and modernized and not historically authentic, although Glen's office was renovated it wasn't modernized. They did all of it when they knew the family would be sailing together and bringing on students.

I'm not the only one in the head someone's taking a shower but I don't pay any attention. I hear the shower turn off when I'm washing my hands but whoever it is stays behind the curtain and reaches for clothes. I find it a little odd but some guys are shy so I shrug it off. There's really nothing to do in the cabin, cell phones don't get signal out here and I didn't bring any books or anything as I'm not much of a reader so I go back out to the deck. Some of the guys are gathered around the wheel watching Captain Glen steer the ship so I join them. Once Jake and his crew has eaten Jake and Clare call everyone back down to the cabins. We walk down with the girls and then split up to go to our respective cabins.

"Listen up night duty starts in one hour; you have free time until lights out at ten. First shift ten to midnight; from this cabin Fitz and Sean with Peter as supervisor. Second shift is midnight to two with Clare as supervisor and from this cabin Owen, Johnny and Jay. Third shift two to four with Darcy supervising, on third shift from this cabin Adam, Drew and Bruce. Four to six shift is supervised by me and includes Dallas, Luke and Zig from this cabin. My parents take the six to seven shift because that's when they wake up. If there is an emergency such as a storm we will call all hands otherwise enjoy the sleep while you can get it. Wake up is seven, all hands on deck at seven-thirty for Captain's address, breakfast at eight. Galley crew you will wake up between six and six-thirty each morning to begin breakfast. Peter will come to wake you up. Anyone not up within five-minutes of their wake-up call time gets to polish brass after breakfast," Jake informs us.

I'm never asleep before midnight anyway so night shift should be pretty easy. After getting our assignments for nightshift we all go back up to the deck for free time because the cabin is boring. It's beginning to turn from dusk to dark and stars are visible now along with a very bright moon. Captain Glen calls us over and begins pointing out constellations and showing us how to chart our way with the stars. At 9:30 we return to our cabins, with only so much room in the head and some of us on night duty soon we start getting ready for bed or at least getting the stuff we'll need somewhere we can find it in the dark. I get out my thick coat and gloves because I expect it to be freezing on night duty but I know where my stuff is in the washroom. I'm about to ask Jake if I can just go down to the galley and get some coffee when there's yelling in the head.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! HEY WE HAVE A GIRL IN OUR CABIN," Bruce yells.

"Let me go," Adam demands and we all we rush into the washroom.

"PUT HIM DOWN," Drew growls punching Bruce in the gut.

"He's not a him he's a her," Bruce replies pushing Drew back a little.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET Jake blows a sharp whistle that hurts all of our ears and everyone stops.

"Put him down right now Bruce," Jake demands and Bruce puts Adam down. "Owen and Dallas please take Bruce to the captain and return to the cabin within five minutes," Jake orders. Owen and Dallas each take one of Bruce's arms and pull him out of the cabin. "Adam you alright?" Jake asks and Adam nods.

"I told Mom and Dad this was a bad idea," Drew comments and I realize they're brothers. Drew puts a hand on his brother's shoulder and Adam gives him a smile to let him know he's okay.

"Everyone into the cabin and onto your bunks," Jake tells us and we listen. "Stay here while I talk to Clare," Jake says leaving the cabin for a moment.

"So are you a girl?" Jay questions when Jake is gone.

"No Adam's a guy and anyone messes with him I'll make their life hell," Drew warns us.

"Alright quiet," Jake commands coming back in the room. "Adam you and Drew can go to the deck while I tell them if you want," Jake offers but Adam shakes his head.

"No I'll stay in case they have questions, in fact I'll tell them," Adam replies and Jake nods just as Owen and Dallas return to the room. "I'm a guy like a hundred percent but I was born in a girl's a body. I'm an FTM, female to male transgender."

"So you have a girl's body but you think like a guy?" Johnny asks.

"Not just think like a guy, feel like one I mean physically and emotionally."

"Are you into girls or guys?" I question.

"Girls and because I'm really a guy inside that makes me straight, at least I think so."

"Unlike the rest of you juvenile delinquents Adam is not here because he's been in trouble one too many times. He's here because when he came out as an FTM at his old school he got beat up, pretty badly. The kids who beat him up were arrested and charged with not only with assault but a hate crime. Let me make it very clear that if any of you do anything like that to Adam on this ship you will be charged with the same sent straight home at the next port and immediately picked up by the cops and arrested. You'll spend your nights in the brig and your days polishing brass and cleaning the heads until we get to port. It's not just if you try and hurt Adam, if you do anything with malicious intent to any member of this crew you will receive the same punishment. If we cannot work together as a team we will not survive."

 **(CLARE)**

"Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuugh," Luke loses his breakfast over the side of the ship.

We've been at sea three full days and this is our fourth day at sea having left the evening of the eighth. Up until this morning the seas have been pretty calm but this morning we woke up to rough waters and a lot of kids are having trouble with it. Luke is the seventh person to be downed with seasickness.

"Go see my mom she'll give you something," I tell Luke pulling at his coat and pushing him in the direction he needs to walk.

"I can't, can't move," Luke shakes his turning and leaning over the rail before barfing over the side again.

"Alright stay here I'll be right back," I tell him and walk down to the infirmary. Jay, Amy and Zoe have such bad seasickness that they're still throwing up even after getting the medicine. Mom has them lying on the bunks down here nibbling at saltines and sipping at tea. "Luke's sick too but he doesn't want to come down he keeps throwing up," I inform Mom.

"I hope they get their sea-legs before we hit a storm and not just some heavy wind," Mom comments and I nod in agreement.

Before going out to the deck again I grab a bottle of water from the galley. I find Luke exactly where I left him, barfing over the side of the boat. I hand him the pills and the water and he sinks down to take them. After he takes the pills he just lies down on the deck. I leave him there, he'll either find his way back to the cabin or he'll lie there until he feels better.

"Clare," Jake calls for me and I walk over to him. "Dad wants you in his office on navigation, said to take Adam with you."

"Where's Adam?"

"Not sure, in the cabin maybe," Jake shrugs.

I don't see Adam on deck and after checking by the wheel I go down to the cabins. I knock on the boys cabin door and Dallas answers.

"Sweet you come to party with us?"

"Is Adam in there?"

"Adam," Dallas calls stepping away from the door. A few seconds later Adam comes to the door and smiles when he sees me.

"Hey Clare."

"You must have picked up navigation pretty quickly because Dad wants me to navigate and wants you to help. Dad never trusts anyone to navigate after just a few days," I say loud enough for the cabin to hear and Adam grins.

"Cool."

We leave the cabin and go up to Dad's office. Dad's office is the old Captain's quarters but when my parents bought the ship they made a few renovations to better suit our family and a floating school.

"You seem to be adjusting to ship life better than most," I comment as we get out the maps.

"Yeah I like the ship and aside from Bruce and a couple of the others who seem to be too small minded to understand everyone's been pretty cool since finding out. A lot of the girls seem to like me better now. Some of the guys are funny about using the head when I'm in there but I'm used to that."

"If anyone gives you trouble at all you report it," I remind him.

"I know, I think after Bruce spends the week sleeping in the brig and polishing brass when he's not on duty no one else will be brave enough to do anything. The ones that have a problem with me usually just ignore me or sometimes glare at me," Adam replies and I smile.

Using the maps, compass and sextant we find our course and heading and report it to my Dad. We stay by the wheel for a little while watching Dad steer the ship but then we return to Dad's office until it's time for dinner. Not everyone wants to eat tonight because they still feel too nauseas to eat so the dining hall is fairly empty. I spend most of the evening with Adam in Dad's office, Adam likes looking at all the instruments used on historical ships. Some of them we use and some are just Dad's collection. By the time we go down to get ready for bed the seas are calm again much to the relief of those struck with seasickness today. Like all the cruises the girls spend the first week talking about what guys are cute and how they plan to get together with the guy they want most. Grace is the only one that doesn't seem to participate in this talk.

"Drew is definitely the hottest guy on the ship I can't wait to be on nightshift with him," Alli grins.

"Drew is hot but he doesn't seem that bright, probably worth a good fuck though," Amy remarks.

"Yeah like you're so bright Amy," Lexi snaps back at her. "Personally I go for more of the leader types like Jay," Lexi says.

"What's your brother into Clare?" Katie questions.

"If you want to hook up with him you talk to him I'm not in charge of his hook ups I'll deal with my own."

"And how many guys have you hooked up with?" Zoe asks.

"None of your business and you need to get ready for night duty," I remind her.

We all get ready for bed and the girls on first shift night duty go up to deck. A lot of the girls talk or try to play on their phones after lights out but I always read in my bunk. I always have second watch and since it's at midnight I can almost never fall asleep before night watch. I'm still reading when the others return at midnight, while Lexi and Grace wake up Amy and Bianca I get my shoes on to go up to the wheel. I expect to find Peter at the helm but instead I find Fitz.

"Peter trusted me enough to stand here for a couple minutes and hold the wheel steady until you got here," Fitz tells me.

"That's still a lot of trust," I smile walking over to take over the helm.

Fitz steps back a little and I put my hands on the wheel as he lets go. When I have both hands on the wheel he steps behind me again and puts his hands on mine. I turn my head to ask him what he's doing but just as I open my mouth his lips clasp to mine luring me into a kiss. My eyes close as his tongue licks across my bottom lip and my tongue fights for dominance with his. When he hears other people coming he pulls away softly, his hands leave mine but one rests on my waist.

"Goodnight Clare," he whispers walking away.

I smile and bite my lip, I think this year will be a most exciting cruise!

 **The update will jump ahead a little probably beginning with them in their first port.**

 **Going up next will be the one shot** _ **Love is Like to Ice & I to Fire**_ **, which will be a very special story as it will be my** **200** **th** **! In celebration of my 200** **th** **story on my page of the DeGrassi Saviors site I will be putting up a gallery with 1 or more pics for each of the 200 stories. The will go up in order of when they were published and go up 10 at a time. The first 10 are already up, the next 10 will go up sometime this week and so on until they're all up. So take a look, enjoy the gallery, remember some of the early ones or discover stories you haven't looked at yet. Here's to 200 more stories!**


	2. Stars are Dull Compared to Your Eyes

**Hopefully everyone has seen the A/Ns and announcements regarding the short stories. If you haven't a couple things you need to know.**

 **#1 ~ I took the number of revolving short stories down from 5 to 3 this should greatly shorten the length of time before the chapters.**

 **#2 ~ All short stories will now be getting 2 chapters posted within 24 hours of each other. Less waiting and faster getting through the stories. Seeing as I have 50 short stories on the list that have been fully plotted and several that will probably be short stories on my plotting list.**

 **Okay enough announcements, enjoy the chapter.**

 **Ch. 2 Stars are Dull Compared to Your Eyes**

 **(OWEN)**

"Tomorrow we reach Honolulu Harbor," Captain Edwards says and everyone cheers. "Settle down there are rules and you can't just go wandering off by yourselves. We will be splitting into three groups, Helen and I will take one group, Peter and Darcy will take one and Jake and Clare the other. You may choose which group you want to be with. Helen and I will be taking a group to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling then lunch and after lunch we'll visit Pearl Harbor. Darcy and Peter will be hiking Diamond Head, after the hike you'll get lunch at the Diamond Head café. Then spend the afternoon at the zoo and aquarium. Jake and Clare will be walking to Manoa Falls, you'll take a dip at the falls and then have lunch in town before heading to Kualoa Ranch for a movie location tour and zip-lining. Whatever group you decide to go with we all meet at Ko Olina Resort for dinner and a luau. We'll be spending the night in port and sailing out first thing tomorrow morning which means no night shifts that night," he tells us and we all cheer again.

"The sheets to sign up for each group will be posted in the classroom. If you don't sign up for a group by the time we reach port tomorrow I will randomly assign you to a group," Helen tells us.

After dinner most of us go to the classroom to sign up for the groups tomorrow, Fitz and I immediately sign up for Clare's group. Jay signs up for her group too, so does Katie and Fiona. Adam and Grace both sign up for Darcy and Peter's group while Lexi, Amy and Alli sign up for the group that starts at the beach. Those with kitchen duty return to clean up before getting ready for night duty. Since I have second shift for night duty I read in my bunk until we're called up. Clare goes to the wheel and asks me to navigate, I'm not great at navigation, still learning the stars and everything. I look at the chart, use the tools and tell Clare what I think our heading should be.

"That's right Owen very good," she says proudly and it makes me grin. "You want to steer?" She asks.

"Yeah," I smile walking over to her, I expect her to move away from the wheel but she stays where she is.

"Stand behind me and place your hands where mine are," Clare tells me with a coquettish grin. With her eyes sparkling under the stars and that smile she's this beautiful vision and I step right behind her putting my hands right next to hers. "We just have to keep her straight and steady, keep your eye on the horizon," she instructs.

"It's hard to make out the horizon, and I'd rather keep my eyes on you," I reply and she elbows me lightly.

"Look at the constellations, the stars are reflected in the water but they only shine bright in the sky."

"Right now the brightest things I see are your eyes, no stars outshine them," I say.

"Boy you lay it on thick, you must have a bevy of girls back home," she remarks.

"I would if all the girls were as pretty as you."

"Owen," she giggles, "concentrate on steering the ship."

"Alright I'm steering," I sigh.

"Stay here, keep her straight and steady I'm going to check on the others," she tells me.

She slips under my arms and goes down to check on everyone else. She returns with Bianca, Clare stands with us while Bianca checks our course and heading by the chart and the stars. Clare sends Jay and Amy down to wakeup Darcy's group for watch, although Darcy is usually up first. When Darcy takes the wheel the three of us start walking back to the bunks but Clare stops me at the doorway.

"You lay it on pretty thick but you are sweet," she says gripping my jacket and standing on her tiptoes she crushes her lips to mine. I put my hand on her lower back and embrace her lips with mine, my tongue slowly licking over her bottom lip requesting access and to my delight she grants it. Her lips parting my tongue slides in tenderly and caresses hers, she pulls out of the kiss by tugging my lower lip evoking a wanting whimper from me and I want to kiss her again. Somehow, she manages to slip away from me before I can and she trots down the stairs.

"Now that was a goodnight kiss," I grin following her down the stairs. I get ready for bed and fall asleep dreaming of that kiss.

We're woken up a little earlier than normal and breakfast is protein packed. Glen and Helen aren't at breakfast as they are pulling us into port. Jake's night duty group could see it coming into view and they stayed on deck instead of going back to bed. After breakfast we disembark and get to the end of the docks, three vehicles are waiting to take the three groups. Jake and Clare get into a SUV with eight seats, Fitz and I take the middle seat, Fiona and Katie sit in the very back so Jay sits with us. Jake drives us to a trailhead and we get out, everyone is dressed in t-shirts and shorts, with tennis shoes and hats. Most of the guys are wearing their board shorts as their hiking shorts but Jake told us it's an easy walk and not a tough hike like Diamond Head. We hike through a lot of very pretty forest and lush greenery. When we get to the falls they are gorgeous, it's so green and lush with a perfect swimming hole. At first when we see it we're just in awe and then we strip down to our swimsuits and everyone jumps in the water!

The water is cool, and refreshing, it's like the perfect temperature. I dive in and come out just in time to see Clare emerge from the water. She emerges and throws her hair back, I watch the beads of water trickle down her chest. Fitz is watching her too, we look at each other and get the same idea, exchanging a nod and a mischievous grin we dive down and come up underneath Clare. Grabbing her ankles we hoist her up and toss her into the air, she shrieks but recovers and dives into water. She comes up and glowers at us.

"What? You look sexy when you come out of the water," I reply and we get smacked in the head by Fiona.

"You guys are pigs," Fiona snaps at us.

"Well I was going to kiss you both under the falls but not after that," Clare says sticking her tongue out at us. "Hey Jay, you w…" Clare begins but both Fitz and I are swimming over to her now.

"No, no you're not kissing him. We're sorry we'll be good," I plead with her.

"Yeah how can we make it up to you?" Fitz asks her.

"Well now you have them eating out of your hand," Fiona laughs before swimming off.

"Well I suppose boys will be boys, of course you have to catch me first," she grins disappearing under the water and swimming to the waterfall as fast as she can.

Fitz and I dive under the water and follow her to the waterfall. You can't go behind the water but you can get under it, she takes Fitz first, holding onto him and they share a salacious kiss. She releases him and grabs me doing the same, I hold her close and caress her lips, my tongue gliding in and dominating hers, exploring every inch of her mouth.

"Hey, we have start walking back for lunch soon," Jake calls to us and we pull apart.

"So, do you do kiss all the guys on every tour?" I ask Clare as the three of us begin swimming again.

"Not all the guys, I always have a few favorites though," she grins.

Jake whistles when it's time to get out of the water. We all hiked up carrying towels and we get out and dry off. We get our clothes and shoes back on, drink some water and start hiking back. Jake drives us to the town of Manoa and we get a plate lunch from a stand. After lunch we drive out to Kualoa Ranch and are taken on a guided tour of movie and TV sets filmed on the ranch and then do a zipline through Jurassic Valley. It was really fun and pretty cool to see all the familiar sets and sights. We meet everyone at the hotel for the luau which is really cool and there's some great food which is good because everyone is starving. Drew and Sean tell us about the beach, snorkeling and going to Pearl Harbor, Adam tells us about Diamond head and the aquarium. We stay on the beach for a bit after the luau ends, no one has night duty tonight so we can stay up a bit later.

"Hey Clare can you show me the constellations again?" I ask. She's sitting on the beach watching the fire.

"Sure we'll have to go down the beach a bit, away from the fire and the lights," she says as I help her up.

"Hey back in thirty to get back to the ship," Peter tells us as we start walking.

"I know Peter," she replies rolling her eyes. We walk down the beach a ways finding a darker spot and sit down. She knows I had no interest in the constellations and our lips attach, we kiss for a while but eventually she breaks the kiss to look at her watch. "We better start heading back," she tells me.

"Guess they'll come looking for us if we don't but I still say the stars are dull compared to your eyes."

 **(CLARE)**

"Everyone we have a storm coming. Drew, Bruce, Manny and Fiona furl and douse the sails, the wind is going to start kicking up, the water is going to get rough," I command taking the helm from Adam.

"How can you even tell I can't see anything but dark ocean and stars. I don't see any point in taking the sails down," Manny snaps. She's had an attitude this whole time and we've been at sea for ten weeks now, she's not the only one Amy has too and the two of them hang out a lot.

"Have you sailed around the world? Do you know when a storm is approaching by the look of the sky? No, you don't," I answer for her before she can. "I've sailed these waters not you now I'm telling you get those sails down or the winds will hit and we'll be blown off course. Look at the instruments the wind is already picking up," I bark a command at her.

I'm younger and shorter than most of the kids we take on board but I learned how to command early. Manny sort of sneers at me but she goes off to do what I commanded her to with the others.

"I hate to agree with Manny but I don't see a storm either," Adam comments.

"Look at the sky, the whole sky, not enough stars on the distant horizon. The wind is getting stronger, you'll be feeling it soon I've been doing this a long time," I tell him.

Before they finish dousing the mainsails the wind is strong enough that they can feel it. The water is getting choppy and rough, the boat is starting to rock a bit. Manny refuses to admit I was right but she also stays near the rails as she gets sick.

"So, what do we do if there's a storm? I mean if we start getting rain or the water gets any rougher?" Drew asks.

"Storm watch is 30 minutes at time but we can handle this," I reply.

"Speak for yourself," Manny says before vomiting over the side again.

It doesn't rain but the seas are rough and everyone else is holding onto something. I have the wheel and no one else is getting sick but some of them do seem to be worried. I send Fiona and Adam down to wake third watch, just after I send them down Darcy comes up.

"It's going to get bad, better wake Dad when you go down," Darcy says taking the helm.

'Yeah," I nod and look at Manny. "You coming down Santos?"

"No I think I need the fresh air," she replies before vomiting over the side again.

"I'll get her some seasickness pills," I tell Darcy waving for Bruce and Drew to follow me.

"Is it safe to sleep?" Drew asks when they get to the boy's cabin and just as Owen and Jay are coming out.

"If you can sleep you should, we're probably at the edge of the storm now and it's going to get a lot worse. We may be called onto deck before morning if things get too bad. If you can't sleep and you want to be on deck you can stay but you really should get some rest," I urge them.

"Storm? I knew the boat was rocking more than it should be," Owen comments.

"You two get up for your shift," I tell him and Jay.

"I'd rather make-out with a girl if I can't sleep," Bruce mutters as he walks into the boy's bunk.

I shake my head and walk to my parent's room, I knock on the door softly before entering. Their room is dark but I stay in the doorway and call to them.

"Dad, Mom we're hitting a storm. It's not too bad yet but we're getting wind and choppy waters. The sails are down and Darcy's watch is just taking over."

"Thanks Clare, have Darcy give us an update in two hours unless it gets worse," Dad says.

"I will. Manny's getting sick on board I'm going to grab her some seasickness pills," I tell Mom.

"Thanks Honey, I'll check on her when we go on deck," Mom says.

I close their door and go to the infirmary before going back on deck. I give Manny the pills with some water and tell her she should try to sleep. Darcy has Johnny and Bianca on the bow watching the weather, Sean and Zoe are watching the instruments.

"Unless it gets worse Mom and Dad said to update them in two hours. Mom will check on Manny at that point too," I inform her.

"Thanks, you should get some sleep. Amy, on fourth turn of the hourglass Johnny will take the helm while I update the captain," Darcy instructs as I make my way down to the bunks.

I get downstairs and use the washroom to change into pajamas and get in bed. I'm able to sleep for a few hours but then I hear the call I was hoping not to hear.

"ALL HANDS ON DECK. EVERYONE ON DECK IN FIVE," I hear Dad yell. It scares most of the girls and they sit up rapidly, a few even fall out of bed.

"What the hell is going on and why am I being woken up so damn early? It's not time for my watch yet," Zoe complains.

"There's a storm we have to secure the ship and storm watch is every 30 minutes," I inform them.

Most of the girls are yawning or bitching about getting up so early but we get on deck on time. It's raining now, a few kids are missing and I presume them to be down with seasickness. What worries me is how worried Peter and Jake look, Mom and Dad are hiding it and I don't see Darcy she must be either securing something or with the sick kids. I go and stand by my brother and Peter.

"It's bad isn't it?"

"We're off course, Dad won't know by how much until we can see daylight because there's no stars. We heard chatter about a hurricane near Guam on the radio, a freak one," Jake tells me.

"But we're still two days from Guam," I remark.

"We were two days from Guam we have no idea where we are now," Jake whispers.

"ATTENTION EVERYONE," Dad bellows to stop the worried talk of everyone on deck. "Obviously we have hit a storm, more than the rough seas we hit on our fourth day at sea. The storm has already taken us off course and we will have to get back on course but right now the wind and waves are so strong we can't chart a course. This is a big one and we'll try to get around it but that won't be easy, if we bring up the mainsails it's going to blow us straight to the heart of the storm. Amy and Luke are currently immobilized by seasickness the rest of you are on storm watch of this moment. That means deck shifts of 30 minutes at a time and two teams each. Listen to me and my family when we give instruction, this is not the time to goof off or be lazy."

Dad assigns Mom, Peter, Jake and I various duties to secure the ship while he stays at the helm. He assigns people to our groups and we get the ship secured as fast we can. Then he assigns groups for storm watch. He and I take first watch with Dallas, Drew, Sean, Fitz, Grace and Bianca. Thirty minutes seems to last forever when you're on deck in the middle of a storm, using the current Dad is trying to steer us out of the storm but it's not easy and he's struggling to keep us straight. He lets Jake take the helm when he and Darcy come out for their watch. No one can sleep, it will soon be dawn anyway though you'd never know by the look of the sky, we go down to the galley for coffee and hot chocolate. With three shifts we're back on deck each hour and spend the next hour warming up.

"Shouldn't the sun be out?" Dallas asks when we go on deck for our second storm watch.

"It is but the clouds are so thick you can't see it," Bianca enlightens him.

"We're hitting some large waves, I think we may be hitting a second storm," Peter tells Dad as he takes the helm from Peter. Of course, with the storm everyone is yelling a bit.

"I know I felt them, get everyone into life jackets and ready the lifeboats," Dad instructs.

"Lifeboats?" Fitz asks. I don't answer him but I do hand him a lifejacket.

Peter and Mom go to find Darcy and Jake to get all the students into lifejackets while I get Drew, Dallas and Fitz to help me with life boats. We get them ready to lower but secured, they just have to be at a height where we can get into them. I turn to lead everyone to the two lifeboats at the back when I see a terrifying sight, a huge wave is about to crash into the boat at an angle.

" **DAD!"** I scream but it's lost in the storm and the wave hits us hard.

It crashes into the ship like a fist into a punching bag, the ship pitches to the side and we start sliding down the deck. People grab whatever they can as they begin to slide, I'm falling down the center with little to grab but suddenly feel my lifejacket tug. I look up to see Drew holding me with one hand, I smile at him and the boat starts to correct itself, it goes too far and we begin sliding the other way before the boat settles.

"Should we get below deck?" Bianca asks.

"No if the boat capsizes you get trapped, everyone will come up and go into Dad's office. Mom, Peter, Jake and Darcy are probably getting everyone up right now," I tell them yelling over the wind but I don't know how well they hear me.

I wave for them to follow me and start walking to Dad's office although the ship is rocking and lurching a lot. We don't even make it back before we get hit by another swell it goes under the boat sending us falling backwards. The boat comes crashing down so hard that Grace and Dallas are sent flying and we lose sight of them. I don't even have time to scream before we're hit again, the boat lists to the side, I lose sight of everyone as I go sliding. I hit the railing hard and it stuns me for a second, I try to hold on but I can't and I'm enveloped by the cold ocean water. I manage to swim away before the ship hits me and I'm trapped underneath.

I come to the surface and take a deep breath, the boat is turned, capsized and I can't see anyone else. There's a lifeboat nearby on its side and I struggle to reach it. The water is churning, the wind strong, it feels like trying to swim in drying cement. Just before I reach the lifeboat another head pops out of the water. It's Adam and I'm very happy to see him, we exchange the same relieved smile before I point to the lifeboat. We swim over and with some effort we manage to get the boat right side up. Adam is able to get his hands on the side of the boat and get himself in. I try but after the swim and holding onto the ship earlier I'm physically exhausted. I hang onto the side of the boat for a moment to catch my breath but when we get battered by another wave I nearly let go. Adam manages to hang onto me but he doesn't have the strength to pull me into the boat. Just as I'm trying to summon the strength to get into the lifeboat I'm propelled up from underneath and Adam pulls me into the lifeboat. I get in and look down to see Jay, I smile at him and then Adam and I help him into the boat as we get hit by another swell.

"If we get too much more water in the lifeboat we'll sink, we need to start bailing," I instruct them.

All we have is our hands so we begin bailing water to get out as much as we can before we start rowing to the front of the ship and away from the waves so we don't get so battered.

"Do you see anyone else?" I yell looking around but it's hard to see anything at all right now.

"No," Adam shakes his head.

"Clare keep a lookout for others we'll keep bailing water," Jay says and I nod.

I look over the water praying that everyone made it but all I can see right now is stormy seas and the overturned ship. My heart begins to sink as I fear we're the only ones to make it.

 **(PETER)**

"Everyone get t…" I'm yelling when the ship suddenly rolls and we're all knocked around. Jake and I fall against the stairs to the deck, some of the students fall back into the dorm rooms or the walls. Those coming up from the infirmary begin to fall down the stairs again. Jake and I gab the banisters but the ship hits down hard and anyone not holding onto something is sent flying. Just as we start to get our footing the ship is hit again, we roll and then we're upside down.

"Are we safe now?" Alli asks.

"No the water will be sucked in like a vacuum and fill all the spaces with air; everyone we need to get out. Line up at the door, as soon as I open it we'll need to swim out, hold your breath and turn left or right to get to the sides of the ship. You might get disoriented, try to swim to the outer hull and use your hand to feel your way to the surface," I instruct quickly while Helen and Darcy begin lining people up two by two to get out.

My instinct is to get Darcy out first so she has a better chance but I know that's not right, Jake and I are by the door we go out first. The others wait a couple seconds and follow us out. You can't see anything but the ship is slowly sinking so there's a pocket of air as we come up. I take a breath and swim to the side, then I feel the ship's hull to get to the surface. I take a deep breath and ride a swell before looking around.

"PETER," Drew yells and I look over. He managed to get a lifeboat and get into it, he starts rowing to me and I swim to him, he helps me in the boat and I take a few panting breaths.

"Where's everyone else? Where's Glen and Clare?" I question.

"I don't know I haven't seen Adam either," Drew says and I can see the worry for his brother.

"If we can we should stay on this side, more people will be coming up," I tell Drew and he nods. It's hard to see too far ahead and I know some of the students are probably getting disoriented and going the wrong way or staying in the air pocket. Just as I'm considering swimming back to it I see something ahead of us. "That's Glen, he looks hurt," I say and we begin rowing over there. Glen has a cut on his arm and he's unconscious, Drew and I manage to get him in the boat just as we get hit by a wave which sends water into the boat. We start bailing out the water when Luke pops out of the water.

"Some of the kids are refusing to leave the air pocket, Darcy and Helen are trying to convince them to," Luke informs us after we help him into the boat.

"You two stay here and watch for people coming up, I'm going back to see if I can get the others out. I'll swim to the other side after to check over there. If the waves start hitting the lifeboat too much row to the bow, I'll tell everyone to head there. See if you can find another lifeboat," I instruct them and they nod.

I take a moment before getting back in the water, it's not exactly below freezing but it's not warm either. I take a deep breath and go under again, doing my best to find my way. When I come up in the air pocket Amy, Bruce, Katie and Alli are arguing with Helen and Darcy about leaving the air pocket.

"I don't want to swim, I can breathe here," Alli is saying.

"But you won't be able to for long. I told you everywhere with air is going to start filling with water. You'll get sucked down you need to swim. There are lifeboats and other people out there, now swim to the edge, take a deep breath and swim, or go down with the ship it's up to you. If you wait a minute you can follow me out," I order in the most commanding and authoritative voice I can to the students before looking at Helen. "Go that way, Glen's alive but hurt, he's in a lifeboat with Drew and Luke."

"Clare and Jake?" Helen asks.

"I don't know I haven't seen them yet. They know what to do I'm sure they're fine," I try to assure her although I'm praying that they are fine.

I swim to the edge, Alli and Katie follow me and Darcy, Bruce and Amy follow Helen. Darcy goes first, then Alli and Katie right after, I count to five and look around before going under again. When I come to the surface I see Jake helping Darcy into a lifeboat. Owen and Fitz are in another lifeboat helping Katie and Alli up. Also in Jake's boat are Bianca and Lexi, with Owen and Fitz is Dallas.

"Jake, have you seen Clare?" I hear Darcy ask him and he shakes his head.

"Everyone is out we should start rowing for the bow and get out of the waves," I tell them.

We start rowing, one of the lifeboats only has one paddle so people are using their hands. We get near the bow and see Johnny hanging onto the side of the boat by a rope. We help him into our lifeboat and he helps us row to the bow. Darcy, Jake and I are all very relieved to see Clare in a lifeboat tethered loosely to the forepeak to keep from drifting. Also in her lifeboat is Adam, Jay Sean and Grace. Jay tosses us some rope and we tie the lifeboats together. I tell Adam I saw Drew and he's in a lifeboat, so is Glen and Luke and that Helen, Amy and Bruce were headed that way. By my count that still leaves three unaccounted for; assuming that Helen and the others made it to Drew's lifeboat. The Fanga Dagen has four lifeboats each of which can hold eight people, more than enough for everyone on board. Now I just hope everyone made it out alive, and that we get rescued fast.

 **It's not an awful cliffhanger right? Well anyway chapter 3 will be up shortly.**


	3. Island on the Distant Horizon

**See chapter three and no long waiting. Hope everyone is enjoying the double doses of short story chapters. I may end up doing this for long stories as well at some point.**

 **Ch. 3 Island on the Distant Horizon**

 **(JAKE)**

"Mom thank goodness," I grin when I see her lifeboat come around the corner. I toss them some rope and they tether to our boat. "How's Dad?" I question seeing him lying in the boat with a blood-soaked bandage on his arm and unconscious.

"He'll be alright," Mom smiles but she's using her doctor assurance voice which means Dad might not be okay and she just doesn't want to worry us. "Did Bruce come up on your side? We haven't seen him," Mom tells us.

"No we haven't seen him," I shake my head, "We're also missing Fiona, Zoe and Zig."

"We need to stay here, we'll never be able to make our way out of the storm in the lifeboats but we're pretty sheltered if we just stay here. The waves will be broken by the ship, we'll have to keep bailing out the boats until the storm passes," Mom says.

Even though the boats are close together it's hard to hear anyone not in your boat or the boat next to you. So I pass along what Mom said to the rest of the boats. There isn't much for us to do but look for the others and bail out the boats while we wait for the storm to pass. It's a couple of hours before the storm begins to dissipate but we got pretty lucky, either we were out of the center or the storm didn't get as bad as it could have.

"Do you feel strong enough to swim and look for the missing?" Mom asks when the storm is settling.

"Yeah I can swim," I nod.

"Me too," Darcy says before looking at the other boats. "We're going to take a swim to see if we can find the others," Darcy calls to Clare.

Clare says something I can't hear and then says something to Peter. The four of us get in the water so we're all looking for the others, Darcy and I take the port side. We swim all the way down to the rudder but we see no signs of the four missing students. I try to go under the water to look under the boat but it's sinking and there isn't much of an air pocket left. Darcy and I return to the boats but we haven't found any of the missing students, nor did Clare and Peter. It's possible they were swept away by the current or are hiding somewhere and we will find them later, sadly it's more likely that the storm has claimed their lives.

After another couple of hours the ship is nearly gone and Jay has already untied their life boat from the ship. All four life boats are still tethered together and will remain so our they could drift apart in the current. As the ship begins to sink beneath the water it affects our entire family, Peter included. It's been our lively hood and our home for so long now and it's being taken away. As devastating as it is to watch sink into the dark waters of the ocean depths we hold our emotions in. For one thing; we don't want to frighten the students, secondly if we let our feelings show we could break down, lose hope and give in and that is something we simply cannot do right now.

The only silver lining to the ship going down is that some of the stuff in the ship begins to come to the surface. Anything with some buoyance begins to float to the surface. Working in shifts and staying together we gather anything that might be useful into the lifeboats. There's some clothes, fabric, a medical kit from dad's office, Dad's compass, and a lighter that works. Some other people gather some other things that probably won't be useful but I suppose they could be.

Drew gets in the boat with Adam, both to be with his brother and because Dad is lying down and taking up most of the other boat. With the storm gone we're able to circle the boats and talk without yelling and still be able to hear each other. The students are scared and we don't want to frighten them more but we have to talk about what to do.

"Dad thought we were about ten miles from Wake Island but with the storm it was hard to tell and it could have thrown us even farther off course. We were in touch with the Coast Guard but we can't stay here, not for long. We should try to find land and hopefully find a friendly ship along the way," Mom says.

"We're going to die out here aren't we? When we get back my parents are going to sue you," Alli says in a frightened voice but it's also dripping with venom.

"Your parents signed the paperwork they knew the risks and we didn't make the storm, we're not at fault. You'd probably be dead already if not for us," Clare shoots back with some venom in her tone.

"The boats need to stay together we have to row together. We'll take shifts," Mom directs.

Not every boat has oars but we did find some broken wood planks that can work as oars and we manage to get each boat two oars. Two people per boat spend twenty minute shifts rowing, for most of the students it's all they can manage. Thankfully after about an hour of rowing Dad wakes up, Mom bandaged his arm as best she could. He's a little dizzy but says he's okay, Mom makes sure he stays lying down for the rest of the day. One thing we don't have is fresh water and food and by evening all the students are feeling it, people are tired, weak, cranky, hungry and thirsty. I don't know how many of them are going to last if we're on the sea much longer, not sure how much longer any of us can last.

 **(JAY)**

I can feel the hot sun hitting us under the fabric we've been using as a tarp. Without sunscreen we've been doing most of our paddling at night or the sun is too hot, too strong and we burn. We also have no water or food because the emergency kits that had been in the lifeboats were lost when the boats capsized. At night we also have the stars to navigate, of course we have no idea where we were when we went down but we've all been relying on the experience of the Edwards family. The ship sank just over three days ago, Glen passed yesterday with the blood he lost and without food or water his body couldn't take it. I know it devastated the Edwards' but they didn't show it, trying to be strong for us or just trying to get through I'm not sure. They dropped his body into the water, Helen said a prayer and that was it. The rest of us are pretty weak and I don't know how much longer any of us can last, but when I peek out and my eyes adjust to the sun I see a miracle.

"LAND," I scream with relief, "I see land."

Suddenly everyone with enough strength peeks their heads out and when they all see the island we begin rowing. We keep rowing, hard and as fast as we can, everyone is weak and tired but we muster the strength and row. It seems to take hours and there are moments when we feel we'll never make it to the island but finally the boats scrape on the sand of the beach. Exhausted but thrilled we fall out of the boats onto the sand, most of us burned from the sun, all of us dehydrated and starving we are so grateful to have made it to land. For a while we all just lie in the sand, feeling it in our hands, thankful to have hit land and not be drifting at sea. Helen is the first to stand and look at the island, I stand next and look around to see just what this island has.

"It will start to get dark soon, we need to find food, firewood and water. I'll stay on the beach with those too injured or weak to go out. If you think you can walk raise your hand," Helen says. Everyone but Amy, Alli and Darcy raise their hand, the dehydration and the sun have hit them pretty hard, Darcy is especially looking pale and Amy started to go crazy after Glen died and tried to drink seawater which of course made it worse. "Clare take a team along the beach, firewood and food you're not likely to find fresh water. You know what to look for. Take Jay, Luke, Johnny, Dallas and Katie with you. Jake you take Grace, Adam, Drew and Manny start hiking straight that way. Peter you take Fitz, Owen, Bianca, and Sean go up the hill there. Probably a dormant volcano and possibly the only place to find fresh water. Don't go more than an hour in that direction, watch the sun. Everyone back in two hours."

We split into our three groups and begin walking. We follow Clare along the beach, it's slow going, the sun is hot, we're tired but we have hope and that's what keeps us going. It's a long stretch of beach but we pick up some driftwood for firewood and tools. We can also see fish swimming in the shallows but we're all too weak to try and catch them.

"Look," Clare says pointing to what looks like piles of dried grass on a sand dune.

"Look at what?" Katie questions in a curt and bitchy tone.

"Bird's nests, there could be eggs. Which means liquid and protein, nourishment," Clare replies.

"Gross I'm not eating a raw random bird egg," Katie replies.

"Then don't, I'd like some protein and nourishment for my body," Clare shoots back. The rest of us agree with her and begin walking to the nests, there are indeed birds sitting on what looks like nests. "Petrels I think, smallish eggs but there's more than twenty nests. We'll have to scare them away, Jay and Dallas you think you can make a lot of noise, throw sand, whatever you need to scare them away?" Clare asks.

"Yeah we can do that," I say and Dallas nods.

"Good, the rest of us will gather eggs. That means you Katie, you don't have to eat them but we should gather as much as we can," Clare instructs.

We set down the gathered driftwood then Dallas and I run over and scare the birds. For a few minutes all we're doing is running and screaming, throwing sand, generally causing chaos amongst the birds and trying to not get bit. I'm not sure how long we do it but it takes all the energy we can muster and by the time we're done I have a pounding headache. When we get to Clare and the others they've gathered several dozen eggs.

"How do you know they aren't fertilized yet?" Johnny inquires.

"We don't, you can try holding them to the sun. Look it's not pleasant but either way it's protein," Clare comments and takes the necklace from her neck. She uses it to poke a hole in the egg, looks at it and then drinks the contents. She makes a face but she almost immediately gets color back, her eyes brighten a little and she takes another. All of us, except for Katie who can't seem to stomach it, take an egg and make a hole. It tastes more or less like a raw chicken egg which I've had before, it's still pretty gross but I do start to feel better and that pounding headache goes away. "Just a couple for now to keep going, we should take the rest back and walk up a little farther to see what we can find."

The rest of us drink down two eggs, we brought some of the fabric and extra clothes from the lifeboats to put supplies in. The eggs do help us feel better, nowhere near great or back to normal but with some strength back and no more throbbing head we press on. We come to the end of the beach, there's a rocky cliff at one side that we struggle to see the top of, and then a reef. We turn around and Clare walks into the water a couple of feet and picks some plants.

"Beach celery," she tells us holding some to Katie, "if you won't eat the eggs then eat this. You might not make it back to camp if you don't."

Katie takes it, she makes a face at the taste but then she kind of devours it, all of our bodies are in desperate need of food. We pick a bunch of that too and begin walking back. We're the first ones back and Helen forces Darcy, Amy and Alli to drink some of the eggs. She takes one herself and then I help her make a fire. Jake's group is the next to return, he tells us they found water, they also found coconuts and other fruit. Peter's group also found some edible plants and reports seeing several species of birds and lizard, and they found a little stream which probably leads to the fresh water source that Jake and his group found. All groups brought back something, Peter and his group managed to find some empty, dry coconut husks and brought back some water. Helen puts Peter and Jake in charge of rationing the water and liquids while she and Clare start putting a meal together. Even though no group brought back a lot we brought enough that even with 21 of us they manage to put together a pretty good meal. Honestly though we're all so thankful to have food that we eat as much as we can.

"The good news," Helen says as we begin eating, "is that this island seems to have enough to provide for us for a long time. The bad news is that we don't know where we are, and even if we figure it out no one else knows that we're here. Tonight we sleep on the beach around the fire, in fact we should build another one. Tomorrow after breakfast we go look at the sources of fresh water, find the best place to build shelter and assume we're going to be here for a long time."

 **(DREW)**

I'm exhausted and I should be sleeping but I can't, my stomach that hasn't eaten anything for three days is full of food and it's not sitting so well. I feel my stomach bubble and boil, I toss and turn and finally get up. After dinner we built another fire and we're all sleeping in a line between the fires. I sit up a little and look at my brother sleeping next to me, he actually managed to fall asleep but he does stir a little when I get up. As warm as it was during the day it's cold tonight. It appears I'm not the only one that can't sleep as I see Clare sitting over by one of the fires. I get up walking over and sit down next to her. She has her head down but when I sit down, and she looks over at me, I can see that she's been crying. The whole Edwards family has been very strong in front of us this whole time, even when Glen died they held it in but now Clare is sobbing silently alone by the fire.

"I'm okay," she says wiping her eyes.

"No you're not. You can cry we've been through a lot and you just lost your dad. When I couldn't find Adam and I was worried he was dead it felt like a piece of me had been ripped out. I can only imagine what you felt," I tell her rubbing her back.

"It's not just Dad, we lost our home too, our way of life. All in a couple of days and I wouldn't let myself think about it. Wouldn't let it sink in because I wasn't sure we were going to live. But now we're safe, at least we're on land with food and water and it's all hit me. I can't seem to stop crying," she says so I put my arm around her and hold her close.

I don't know what to say, I don't think there is anything to say. I can't bring their ship back or her dad, or make a rescue ship appear, so I just hold her. She turns into me, leaning against me a little and after a while her tears stop and she seems to have fallen asleep. I don't want to wake her or move her so I just lie us down and we sleep there by the fire with her in my arms. We wake up with the dawn, Clare's hair is being blown by the wind and tickling my face, when I open my eyes her mom is stoking the fire and looking at us.

"Morning Mrs. Edwards," I comment awkwardly as I take my arm from Clare and get up quickly.

"Good morning Drew, we need to make some breakfast. There's a little fruit left and some eggs, with some coconut water for everyone that will have to do," Helen says.

"I'll start cutting the fruit," I remark grabbing the knife. It's Sean's pocket knife but he let us use it yesterday to cut the fruit. We've been using it a lot since the ship went down and it's going to get dull pretty fast if we keep using it like this.

Everyone else begins to wake up as the sun hits them, gathering around this fire as the other one burnt out. Some people help with breakfast and others just look at the fire. When Clare gets up she begins to cut fruit and she smiles at me. We eat breakfast and gather what little supplies we have. Some of the supplies are hidden in the lifeboats, we'll be back for them after we find the most ideal spot to build a shelter. After breakfast everyone follows Jake to the spot we found yesterday near the water, a pond, maybe a small lake that must drain out somewhere down below to the ocean.

"I'll go scout the other location with Peter and Jake, the rest of you stay here by the water. Start gathering food if you can," Helen tells us. She walks away with Peter and Jake, most of the kids go to the pond and start drinking as much as they can.

"Will they be able to find their way back to us?" Adam asks Clare.

"Yeah they'll mark a trail, I'm sure they did it yesterday too. We've all had survival training Dad insisted on it," Clare tells us and then she begins undressing.

"What are you doing?" I question.

"I spent three days hiding from the sun on a lifeboat I'm going to bathe," she responds. She leaves her panties and bra on and walks over to where the stream is flowing into the lake.

For a moment pretty much all the guys, and even the girls, watch her bathe in the cool clear water. After a few moments most of us follow suit, stripping down to our underwear, Bianca and Katie even take off their bras and Alli gets totally nude although she seems to be doing it more to show off than to be totally clean. Amy starts bitching about us contaminating our drinking water, even though she's also bathing, Clare points out that even the lake water has to drain out therefore the water is moving. Darcy just kind of sits in the water and drinks but she hasn't been looking so good. Amy and Alli both started looking and feeling better yesterday after getting some food and water but Darcy still looks pale and isn't feeling well. Once the rest of us feel clean and refreshed we get dressed again, Clare tells us to stay by the lake and gather fruit from the trees after she tells us which ones are food. She and Adam strip a bunch of really big leaves from a plant and we put all the fruit on that. We're still gathering fruit when Helen, Jake and Peter return.

"This is the best spot for shelter, we'll clear about ten feet back. With 21 of us it will be best to build three or four smaller shelters than one big one. We'll start with one, we'll have to dismantle the lifeboats for wood and we'll need some more but for now I think we'll start with smaller tent shelters from plants and fortify later. Darcy you take charge of the food. Peter take a team and make some tools," Helen orders.

"Jay, Sean, Owen, Dallas," Peter says.

"Jake take Drew, Luke, Amy, Lexi, Johnny, Fitz and Katie down to the beach. Set up an S.O.S. on the beach, probably two. And bring back the lifeboats to be dismantled and what supplies we left down there. The rest of us will stay here and start gathering other building materials and clearing the land," Helen instructs.

I hug my brother quickly and follow Jake back down to the beach, even though we didn't exactly walk a straight path to the water Jake knows exactly where to go. I never saw him mark a trail but he must have. First thing we do is start gathering large rocks and lay out a couple of giant **SOS** on the shore, one on each end and big enough to be spotted from the air or sea if the ship isn't too far. Jake also has us build a large pyre for a signal fire which we light. Jake then finds a couple semi-flat rocks from the water and he puts them in one of the boats. We spread the other supplies among the boats so that they're all roughly the same weight. Jake and Luke take one boat, Fitz and Amy take one, Lexi and Katie take one and Johnny and I take the other. We follow Jake and it's pretty slow-going getting back to the lake but we make it and set the boats down. Peter isn't back yet but Clare, Helen and the others have cleared a good path from the lake and started clearing a spot for the shelters. Helen has everyone stop to eat lunch and Peter and his group return.

"We won't be able to make a shelter tonight so we'll make a sleeping area, lay down some leaves and build some small fires. I don't think there's anything predatory besides birds and lizards on the island but just to make sure we'll take turns with a watch tonight. Because we're essentially our own society here we need to make some rules. Rule one you don't steal, horde for yourself or harm another of us to get what you need, we share all supplies. Rule two we take care of each other, if you harm another or don't help someone in need you go without food for a day. We cannot afford to be fighting amongst ourselves. Rule three we are alone here and you're all healthy teenagers, I can't stop you from spending time alone or following your hormones but please be smart about it. We don't have condoms or birth control if a girl gets pregnant the boy will be held responsible and that will include helping deliver and care for the baby, you will become a family unit. Hopefully we'll be found and rescued soon but we have to prepare for the possibility that we could be here for months or even years. If necessary we will make more rules but that should do it for the time being."

All the rules are reasonable so while not everyone looks too happy about the rule for sex it does make sense. If we decide to have sex we just have to be real careful, and hope the girls know where they are in their cycle. We spend the rest of the afternoon clearing some space to sleep. We gather a bunch of big leaves and make a space for everyone to sleep, it will be pretty tight but four of us will be on watch at a time. We make some small fires and have fruit for dinner since that's the only thing left. We'll have to gather more food tomorrow. I'm on the first watch that night, I spend most of the time looking at the stars through a break in the canopy and wondering how long we'll be on this island.

 **(ADAM)**

"It's morning and I'm on food duty," Grace yawns getting out of my arms. She kisses my cheek before leaving the shelter to help make breakfast. It's colder without her body heat so I sit up and stretch looking at the others.

We've been on this island almost two weeks now. We have four tent-like shelters, the first one we built has become the medical shelter. Helen sleeps there, so does Darcy she's still weak and ill and Helen isn't sure why. Peter isn't sick but he stays with Darcy. Alli is in there too after cutting her leg a few days ago, she fell while gathering food and cut her leg pretty good so Helen is keeping her in there. I guess you'd call our tent the couples tent, Grace and I, Jay and Bianca, along with Clare and my brother all sleep in here. Three couples, cuddled up together because the nights can get pretty cold. Jake and Katie are also together, they sleep in the tent next to ours along with Lexi, Sean and Fitz, the last three are all single although I've seen Lexi flirt with nearly everyone guys and girls. In the tent between Jake's and the medical tent is Manny, Amy, Dallas, Luke, Owen and Johnny. Manny and Luke became a couple yesterday.

It's not as though the couples asked each other out or picked them up for a date. With me and Grace we were down at the beach catching fish and I kissed her. I took a chance, I thought she'd been flirting with me and I figured the worst she could do when I kissed her was slap me, and insult me but she did neither. Grace kissed me back and we kept kissing and I asked her to sleep next to me in our tent that night and she said yes. As for Clare and Drew well they had been sleeping next to each other every night, he's been holding her in his arms at night. Nothing was ever really said they just got together, I see them kiss and they spend a lot of time together. I know he comforted her the first night on the island and I know she feels good when she's with him. Jay and Bianca I don't know, one night they were kissing and the next night they kicked Amy and Dallas out of our tent and began sleeping in here. Aside from the medical tent there's no sleeping assignments people sleep where they want but for the time being the six of us have claimed this tent.

"We need to reinforce the shelters, the tents won't keep us sheltered from severe weather or curious animals. We'll start with the medical tent, the lifeboats need to be disassembled so we can use the wood, we will have to eventually get some wood from trees though, not enough lumber in the lifeboats for four shelters," Helen tells us as we're eating breakfast. We should have done it as soon as we had all the shelters built but everyone was so exhausted from the shipwreck and days at sea that once we had the tent like shelters Helen said we should take a few days to rest and get our strength back.

"We're working on axes," Peter nods. He's in charge of tools and weapons.

"Okay one team here helping to disassemble the boats, one team into the forest for food and one team to the seashore for food. Clare will lead the team to the beach and Jake into the forest. Volunteers for boat duty?" Helen asks.

Owen, Sean, Fitz, Jay, Dallas, Bianca and Lexi raise their hands for boat duty. Drew, Grace and I all volunteer to go with Clare. Darcy is sick and Alli is hurt, Helen is staying with them but everyone else is going with Jake. Gathering food at the beach is arguably one of the easiest jobs, our third day on the island we made nets by weaving the leaves of a certain plant and vines together and we created natural traps in the shoreline to catch fish. We haven't gathered anymore eggs yet because we don't want the birds to stop laying them. There are other birds on the island we have gathered eggs from. We pick beach celery and check the fish traps, we've caught over twenty fish today which means a good dinner. We walk down to the other end of the beach where there's purslane and sea grapes growing on the sand. We have to make a few trips because with only four of us there's only so much we can carry.

By the time we bring our last haul back Peter and his crew have one lifeboat totally dismantled with most of the nails still intact. It doesn't sound like much but when all you have to work with is rocks it's a lot. They'll start building tomorrow, we don't have a ton of nails so we'll have to use rope and sap. Alli's been making rope the last couple days since she's been hurt.

Jake's team returns with more food and Clare starts dinner, with help from Drew, Owen and Fitz. After dinner Drew, Clare, Grace and I go down to the beach. We always say it's to check the signal fire or light it again but it's also so we can sit under the stars, alone but not completely alone. We stoke the fire, add some more wood and then Drew and Clare sit on one side of the fire, Grace and I sit on the other. We know Drew and Clare are there but we can't see or hear them. Grace sits cradled against me with my arms around her and we look at the stars. I gently kiss her earlobe and think how lucky I am. Not to be shipwrecked on an uninhabited island with no one else knowing where we are. And it's awful that Glen and the others died or were lost at sea, I feel terrible for everything Clare and her family have lost. Still this island provides what we need and it's gorgeous here, if you're going to be stranded this is a good place. Drew is happy with Clare and I know she finds comfort in him, and I have a wonderful girl in my arms under a beautiful night sky.

 **Update soon will probably jump ahead a little and we'll see some of the not so nice things about being stranded on an island. There may be one or two chapters left in this, there may be five it honestly depends on how inspired I am to write about them on the island and what they are going through.**


	4. Don't Let Go or You May Drown

**If you have not yet done so check out the 200 stories gallery on the DeGrassi Saviors website. I will take it down at the end of September.**

 **Ch. 4 Don't Let Go or You May Drown**

 **(JAKE)**

I wake earlier than usual this morning, it's not even light yet but I can't get to sleep. We should be in Papua New Guinee, all of us, and we should be celebrating. I walk down to the beach and look out at the water, dark and still, no signs of ships and no rescue this day.

"It's Christmas," Clare comments. Her sudden voice startles me and I look over. My younger sister watches as the sun rises over the water. Even the beauty of the sunrise can't bring a smile to her face, I put my arm around her and hold her close.

"Merry Christmas Clare."

"Merry Christmas Jake.

"Come on, we should get back and make breakfast," I tell Clare after watching the sunrise for a few moments.

"Do you think the others will remember it's Christmas?" She asks as we begin walking back.

"I don't know, but they'll need us to keep morale up today," I reply and she nods.

"Jake," she says in small voice and I stop walking to look at her, "I miss Dad. Today more than anything I miss him." She breaks into tears and I hold her close.

"I miss him too."

"We should be on the Fanga, with it all decorated up for a south seas Christmas," Clare sobs.

"I know, I know it doesn't feel like Christmas but we'll try and make it feel that way. For all of us, you know Dad would have wanted it that way."

Clare nods and wipes her tears, I know how she feels. In the struggle to survive, and the uncertainty of not knowing whether we'd even make it to land, or live we never really mourned Dad. We never mourned anyone really. We just couldn't let ourselves feel it or we'd break down and we can't do that we have to be strong for the others.

"Where did you two go so early?" Katie asks when we get back to camp.

"Just down at the beach. Can you get breakfast started while we check on Mom and Darcy?" I ask her and she nods.

Clare and I go into the medical shelter, Darcy's been in here since we got to the island. Felled down by some mysterious illness that Mom can't figure out, nor can she cure without the proper medicines. Mom is awake, checking on Darcy, Peter is still sleeping. Alli had slept in the tent for a week while her leg healed and then she began sleeping in my tent. Well it's half a tent and half a wooden shelter now, the "Couples Hut" where my sister sleeps was made into a wooden hut after the medical tent, and now we're working on the one Katie and I sleep in. When we finish that we'll only have one more tent to turn into a hut. The huts are nothing extravagant, no indoor plumbing or even rooms, just a room to sleep, only four feet high we can't even stand up in them but it's shelter from the elements and the animals. Of course we all hope that we won't need to finish and we'll be rescued, if we are here longer we will need to add to the shelters, maybe combine them and make a proper house.

"How is she?" Clare asks quietly.

"Not well, her fevers up again. She must have some kind of infection but I can't treat it. The few medicinal plants I've been able to find close to camp don't seem to be working. All I can do is hope her fever spikes and burns off but I'm afraid her body is losing this battle," Mom tells us and Peter begins to stir. "He was up with most of the night with her. Let them sleep, we'll go make some breakfast," Mom says in a quiet voice and we leave the hut.

"It's Christmas isn't it?" Adam says sadly as he comes out of the couples hut.

"Yeah, it's Christmas," I nod.

"Merry Christmas Adam," Clare says hugging him.

"Merry Christmas Clare," he says back.

"I forgot it was Christmas," Katie comments with a sorrowful look on her face. I sit down next to her and kiss her temple. "I've started eggs, can you cut some fruit?" Katie asks after a moment.

Mom and Clare make some juice while Adam and I cut fruit. Meat is harder to get on this island and we save it for dinners usually. We have made some jerky from a couple wild chickens we managed to catch. It's not that great but it's good protein while we're hunting or exploring the island.

When we have the food ready I call for people to come and get breakfast. Peter comes out of the medical hut to eat with us. Whether or not everyone remembers it's Christmas everyone seems a little sadder today.

"I know it doesn't feel much like it but it is Christmas today," Mom says as we finish eating. "We need get some food, gather what we can for a Christmas feast but then we'll take the day off. Clare take a team and gather fruit, a lot of it. Jake take Owen, Dallas, Jay, Fitz, Sean and Johnny and see if you can hunt us a boar for a Christmas dinner. Go after you clean up I'm going to see if I can get Darcy to drink some juice.

Mom takes some juice into the medical hut and the rest of us clean up. Peter goes into the medical hut after helping us clean then we split into two groups. Drew comes with us to hunt for a boar, there are some wild ones on the island we've seen and heard them but they're not easy to find. There are parts of the island we haven't been to though because we never hike so far that we can't return to camp by dark. Clare takes Adam, Grace, Bianca, Lexi, Alli, Manny, Amy and Katie to get fruit.

We go into the forest near a cave, we set some traps and go hunting with our spears. Not the best weapons but they work, after a couple of hours we've seen lots of birds and lizards but no boars. I tell everyone to stop and eat, picking some fruit from the trees and the jerky we brought. If we can't get a boar we'll get some lizards and birds, as much as we can to make it as much of a Christmas feast as we can. After eating and getting some energy back we continue the hunt.

"Wait," Jay says as we're trudging through some thick woods. We all stop and listen, we hear it too, a little water running, a small stream perhaps but what's more the snorts of pigs. Wild boars, we found some!

We creep up slowly, being as quiet as we can to sneak up on them. I peek through the leaves and see three boars drinking from a little stream. I motion for Jay, Sean and Fitz to take the one on the left. Luke, Dallas and Owen to take the one on the right while Johnny, Drew and I take the one in the middle. Counting to three with my fingers we all throw our spears at the same time. One of them gets away, missed entirely but two of them are hit. One of us, I'm not sure which, was lucky enough to hit it right through the boars neck and it's killed instantly. One of them takes off running into the woods and I'm not even sure we hit it. The third one is hit by two spears, one glances off it's back, one hits in the leg but it still takes off running. Owen picks up a spear and hits it as it runs, he gets it and it goes down.

"Nice work everyone, two boars will make a nice Christmas feast. Let's get back to camp," I say removing one of the spears. We retrieve the spears we can, tie each boar to a spear for easier carrying and head back to camp.

Mom is quite happy when we return. All of us who killed the boars, and Amy who seems to like it for some reason, skin and clean the boars to get it ready for cooking. Clare and the others prepare fruit and then some herbs to flavor the boar with. Mom has a good fire going and we cut the boar into small pieces so it will cook pretty fast. When it's done and with all the fruit we have quite the feast, most of us eat around the fire but Mom takes food into Peter to eat with him and see if she can get Darcy to eat at all.

We eat fairly slowly, watching the fire, enjoying the meal. Some, I'm sure, thinking about home and Christmas last year with their families. Others missing home and wondering if they'll have a Christmas at home again. Then Adam begins singing Silent Night, very quietly and then louder, Clare joins in and then Grace and Drew. By the chorus we're all singing. It may not be the Christmas we were hoping for but all of us together, signing around the fire after a big meal I think it feels a little like Christmas to all of us.

 **(JOHNNY)**

I wake suddenly when I hear a gasp, sitting up in the small hut I look over to see Clare is awake. Clutching her chest and panting hard, she looks down at Drew but he's sleeping soundly. She wipes her eyes and slips from his arm, looks at me as she crawls out of the cabin. I look down at Bianca but she's sound asleep on her side so I follow Clare out of the hut.

Bianca and I have been together a few days now, Jay was injured during a hunt just before New Year's. His arm was badly cut when he fell while chasing a wild chicken. Helen had to stitch it which wasn't easy and by the sounds he made was very painful. His arm has been in a sling and he was moved into the medical hut. On New Year's Bianca and I got together and she said she spoke to Jay about us, I began sleeping in the couples hut then.

"Bad dream?" I ask Clare sitting next to her.

"No," she shakes her head, "I'm not sure really I just woke up with a terrible feeling."

"You shouldn't be out here alone it's still dark."

"I think I'll go into the medical hut," she says in a sullen voice. I watch her until she's in the medical hut and I return to ours.

"It's cold without you," Bianca yawns.

"Sorry, Clare woke up suddenly and I went to make sure she was okay."

Bianca doesn't reply just nuzzles into me more and I soon fall asleep. I wake a few hours later when Adam and Grace leave the cabin. Bianca wakes up too so we go out of the hut, Katie, Alli, Lexi, Sean, Fitz and Jay are around the fire pit. Jay's still nursing his arm but the others are slowly making breakfast.

"Where's Helen, Jake, Clare and Peter?" Adam asks looking around the fire pit area. Normally at least one of them is out here helping with breakfast.

"Darcy passed away last night," Katie informs us.

"Helen came into the hut a few hours ago to tell Jake. It woke us all up, we've been out here and he's been in the medical hut ever since," Fitz says.

"Actually when Clare started bawling is when I woke up," Jay yawns.

"Poor Clare, all of them. Losing Glen, their home, their way of life, now Darcy," Adam says in a despairing tone.

"What's going on?" Drew asks coming out of the hut with a yawn.

Adam tells him Darcy passed away and we all sit around the firepit silently. It isn't long before Luke, Dallas, Owen, Manny and Amy are up and hear about Darcy. When breakfast is ready people eat but not very much. We all sit there silently until the door to the medical hut opens and Jake comes out.

"I'm sure you all know that Darcy passed away last night," Jake says. His voice is rough, graveled by tears, his eyes red and puffy from crying. "We'll bury her today. Mom asked that we find a spot far from camp but maybe something that overlooks the beach."

"We'll look for a spot Jake, you go be with your family," I tell him. He gives me a sad but grateful smile before returning to the medical hut.

"I'll go with you," Bianca comments getting up.

"Yeah, me too," Drew nods.

Sean, Fitz, Owen, Dallas and Lexi also come with us to look for a burial site. We hike for an hour and a half before we find a site far from camp but up on the hill where you can see the water. We have crude shovels we've made but digging a hole is pretty slow. Bianca marks out a space of two feet wide by six feet long. We go about three feet deep which takes hours so I hope that's enough. Then we take the shovels and hike down to camp again. We're hungry and tired when we get back to camp, Katie and Adam bring us some food and someone tells Helen and the others that we have a place to bury Darcy.

We rest for a while, I guess they must be preparing Darcy or maybe themselves. When the door to the medical hut does open we all look over. Jake emerges first followed by Clare and then Helen and finally Peter. He comes out and then picks Darcy up into his arms. No one says anything but we all get up and start walking to the burial site. Jay comes even with his arm and Peter carries Darcy the whole way.

"This is a beautiful spot, Darcy will be at peace here," Helen says when we've reached the spot.

Peter gets down and lies Darcy in the grave. Clare begins to sob and Jake holds her. No one is quite sure what to do, this isn't a normal funeral. With Glen his body was simply put into the ocean, the others went down with the ship as far as we know so no funerals, no grave digging, no ceremony. After a few moments Sean seems to decide we should just start burying Darcy because he picks up a shovel and begins shoveling the dirt onto the body. I start to help, so does Owen, Bianca and Lexi.

"Darcy was a beautiful and kind soul and her light will be greatly missed in this world," Helen says as we put dirt in the grave.

Helen then says a prayer and more people help us put dirt on the grave until it's filled in. Adam and Alli have gathered flowers which they lie on the grave. Fitz made a cross out of two sticks and some vines which he sets into the dirt. And that's it, slowly we begin making our way back to camp it's very silent the whole way. Adam is walking with Alli, Clare is still sobbing and has her brother's arm around her. Helen and Peter are sort of clinging to each other, they aren't crying but you can see them fighting back the tears. I put my arm around Bianca and we bring up the rear as we get back to camp.

"Thank you everyone. I'm sorry but you'll have to have fruit for dinner tonight," Helen announces when we're back at camp. Her voice is so thin and strained by sorrow you can tell she's barely hanging on. She goes back into the medical hut and Peter follows her, he's unraveling little by little, each tear he holds back pulling apart a different piece of him.

"You should try and eat," Katie tells Jake.

"I'm not hungry, I'm just going to go lie down," he replies and goes into the medical hut. Clare starts to follow him but Drew holds her arm.

"Let me go Drew," Clare demands.

"You need to eat," he insists.

"I'm not hungry. Just leave me alone I don't want to be with you anymore," she snaps at him and goes into the medical hut with what's left of her family.

"She's upset Drew," Adam tells his brother. Drew nods and sits down by the fire pit.

Sean and Dallas get a fire going and we all sit down. No one eats very much or says very much but we stay up for hours just sort of watching the fire. Slowly people begin to go to bed. Jay, I suppose wanting to give the family some privacy, sleeps in the hut with Manny, Amy, Luke, Dallas and Owen. I'm not sure how well any of us sleep, Darcy is the first death on the island. She had been sick but still it does make me wonder if we'll ever get rescued? I'd like to think with modern technology we'll be found somehow but the storm knocked us off course. It could be years and years before people see the signal fires, before a satellite passes overhead to see them, or a ship or a plane. We're in the middle of the ocean on a tiny island with no other signs of civilization at any point.

Eventually the fire dies and we all go into the huts, but I know at least I don't sleep very much. When I come out for breakfast the next morning, after falling asleep for a couple of hours, I expect the Edwards family to still be in the medical hut grieving. I'm sure they're still grieving but the only one that doesn't emerge from the hut is Peter. The rest of the family is making breakfast, none of them eat very much or say anything during breakfast, but they do seem to be doing their best to pull it together for us.

"We need to get food. We should send a hunting party, try and get enough for a couple of days so we don't have to go out and can take a couple days off. Take some cloth and gather a lot of fruit and celery, some eggs everything we can," Helen says after breakfast.

"I'll go with Jake hunting," Drew volunteers. He usually goes with Clare to the beach but I guess they're through.

After some discussion it's decided Jake's hunting party consisting of Drew, Owen, Dallas, Katie, Lexi, Sean and Fitz will go towards the small stream where we found the boars. They'll take a couple of nets as well to try and catch some birds and bring them back to camp. I'm going to the beach for gathering with Clare, so is Bianca, Grace, Adam, Luke and Alli. Peter and Helen are staying at camp, I don't think Peter is going to leave the hut. Jay is staying because of his injured arm. Amy and Manny who didn't want to do either will be staying at camp and helping Helen use vines and long plant leaves to make more nets and baskets.

Walking down to the beach is easier than hunting, although climbing the cliffs down here to get to some of the birds is not so easy. Clare is very quiet, very sad understandably but there's something else. She's got an emptiness in her eyes that wasn't there before.

"Get the fish and the beach celery I'm going up to the cliffs to get bird eggs," Clare says when we've reached the shore.

"You can't get eggs alone I'll go with you," I tell Clare and she just shrugs.

Adam starts taking charge of getting the fish and the beach celery while I follow Clare. We have to hike back a little bit and climb up to the cliff. I'm not even sure there are eggs up here but I follow Clare, at least there are bird's nests when we get to the top. I expect Clare to go to the birds and get the eggs but she walks to the edge of the cliff. I go over and look at her, she's staring out into the void and I can almost see in her eyes how she's thinking about stepping off.

"Clare," I say softly touching her arm, "we need to get eggs and bring them back for your mom."

She looks at me now, her eyes fill with sorrow and regret and some other emotions I can't quite place but at least her eyes aren't empty now. She nods and we gather eggs into one of the woven baskets, then I take her arm and bring her back down to the beach with me. The others seem to be done so we take the haul and return to camp to prepare food. Clare helps but she doesn't eat, when Drew returns Clare says she's going to bathe and walks off. Bianca, Amy and Grace go with her so at least she's not alone. The girls return and Clare sits by the fire but won't eat, Peter never emerges from the medical hut but Helen does bring him some food.

The next few days are very similar, Peter rarely emerges from the medical hut. Helen and Jake are either pulling it together for us or they're doing a great job of putting up a front, they're sad but they keep us together and leave the medical hut every day to keep us organized. Clare also comes out of the medical hut every day but she seldom talks and most of the time she's off somewhere else, her eyes get empty and it's scary. It's not unusual to find her staring off into the ocean from a cliff or looking down at the water of the pond. When we go out gathering for food she'll do the more dangerous things to get the food, generally climbing cliffs or trees. She's trying to hurt herself or maybe kill herself, she doesn't seem to care about her life any longer. I know if this keeps up she's going to succeed in harming herself.

One night a few days after Darcy's death I wake up to go to the bathroom. As I'm doing so I see Peter walk past, he's headed toward the site of Darcy's burial. After I finish with the bathroom I follow Peter, I'm not that far behind him and indeed I do find him at the burial site. He looks over at me but says nothing, he's crying heavily so I kneel with him and put a hand on his back waiting for his tears to dissipate a bit. After some time his tears dry up and he takes a deep trembling breath.

"I know you're in pain but you can't cut yourself off. You can't let yourself get so lost in depression that you lose yourself. We need you, more than that Darcy's family needs you, Clare especially. She's lost her father, her home and now her sister and it's finally made her snap, she's trying to hurt herself, she's volunteering and doing increasingly dangerous duty. Worse she stares at the oceans from cliffs and looks like she wants to jump. One of these days one of us won't be there to stop her and she'll jump. I know what she's feeling because I've been there. A couple of years ago my brother died in a drive-by and while my parents disappeared into themselves I got angry. At first I was angry at everything and everyone. I drank, I got in trouble and then I didn't want to live anymore. I began doing ever more increasingly dangerous things and I didn't realize I was hoping it would kill me. That's why my parents sent me on the cruise. I'm seeing Clare starting to do the same things. She needs you Peter, Clare needs you or she's going to self-destruct and I know that Darcy would want you to look out for and be there for Clare and for Jake and Helen and the rest of us."

After my impassioned confession and plea to Peter he sinks down in the dirt. He curls his knees to his chest, wraps his arms around his knees and starts bawling again. His head goes down to his knees and his body shakes heavily from the sobbing. I worry that my attempt to get him to snap out of it has instead crippled him with guilt. After a few minutes though he takes a deep breath and looks at Darcy's grave.

"I'm sorry Darcy," he says choking on the words a little and has to take a breath before starting again. "I'm sorry I let you down, I'm sorry. I will always love you," he tells her laying his hand on the soil and then he looks at me. He doesn't say anything but he does get up and starts walking back to camp so I follow him. When we're almost back to camp he stops me with a hand on my arm. "Thanks Johnny, when I lost Darcy I thought I lost my world. I lost a part of it with her death but wallowing in the sorrow doesn't help anyone, and if Clare hurts herself I'd never forgive myself. I'll talk with her tomorrow, spend some time with her."

"I don't want anything to happen to Clare and we need you too. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah you will," he grins.

We walk back to camp and go into our huts. I lie down with Bianca again, she's fast asleep and for the first time in many nights I fall asleep pretty quickly. In talking to Peter I lifted a weight from my own shoulders. I also have a sense that things are going to be okay and this lulls me into a peaceful sleep.

 **(PETER)**

"Amy don't climb that tree," I warn her.

"It's taking too long to chop down, I'll just climb to the top. I've seen it done," she replies.

"Amy get down you're not s…"

"Aghhh," her screaming as she falls cuts me off and is promptly followed by, "OWWWWWWWWWW!"

I rush over along with Owen and Dallas, she hit the ground on her leg, it's cut and I'm fairly certain it's broken.

"I told you not to climb," I remind her.

"Ow, it hurts do something," she snaps at us.

"I think it's broken and I told you not to climb. Owen, Dallas, Drew we'll need to get her back. Gather some stuff to make a splint. The rest of you keep gathering food," I order. While they're doing that I look at Amy's leg, it's swelling pretty fast and is a bit discolored, every time I touch it she screams in pain so I'm certain it's broken. "Amy, I know it hurts but you have to stop screaming it's going to hurt a lot more when we move you," I warn her.

"Fuck you this fucking hurts let me scream," she grumbles harshly before going back to saying _"Ow ow ow,"_ and screaming every time we move her.

Drew, Dallas and Owen bring me some vines and sticks for a splint and then Owen and I make a chair with our arms. Dallas and Drew help Amy up and we carry her for a bit but it's slow going and she's not very light. We switch off with Dallas and Drew and Amy screams a lot. Helen comes up the path to meet us from camp having heard Amy's screaming.

"Pretty sure she broke her leg," I tell Helen.

"Yes, it does appear that way. You boys did the right thing," Helen replies then turns to lead us back to camp.

I help Amy into the medical hut and Helen tells her to bite down on a stick. It doesn't help much because we can hear Amy screaming but it does eventually go silent. Helen comes out a short while later to wash her hands in the pond.

"Amy passed out but it's definitely broken. I tried to set it but without an x-ray to see the exact place and kind of break I didn't want to be too forceful. She'll have to keep it elevated and keep off it. We'll keep it in the splint but with an open wound as well she'll be susceptible to infection, even gangrene and I can't tell right now if she's getting proper blood flow because of the swelling," Helen tells me.

"Is she going to make it?"

"If she can keep the leg clean and not infected, if the leg heals well yes but it's going to be a long road. I haven't been out of camp much I need to go look for more medicinal plants, there must be others on the island. I'll leave early tomorrow morning, Jake and one or two of the others can come with me. We'll send a group hunting and Clare can take a group for gathering at the beach but I'll need you to stay here and watch Amy," Helen says and I nod.

Helen goes back into the medical tent and I begin to get a start on lunch. Stoking the fire and preparing some of the fish that were caught yesterday. It's been over a month since Darcy's death, it hasn't been easy but thanks to Johnny I forced myself out of my depression and into being there for Clare. I spent the next morning and several days after talking with her and reminding her, as much as myself, that Darcy's death didn't mean the end to our life. In the last month Clare and I have bonded quite strongly, finding in each other much of what we so much miss about Darcy.

I'm still making lunch when Clare and the group arrives back from the beach. They have more fish, eggs, beach celery, purslane and sea grapes. Adam and Alli walk back holding hands, just after Darcy's death they began to get close and it wasn't long before Grace left the couples tent and Alli began sleeping in there with Adam. In the last week or so I have seen Clare begin to flirt a little again, mostly with Fitz and Owen but a little with Sean, Dallas and Jay as well. It's a good sign because it means some of her old self is coming back, but as much as she's flirting with them I don't think she's ready to have a relationship again.

I tell everyone about Amy breaking her leg as we eat lunch. Helen joins us for lunch and says that Amy is still out cold but is alive. After lunch and cleaning up people relax and most of us go down to the beach or relax in the lake. I sleep in the medical hut that night in case Helen needs help with Amy.

The following day Helen takes Jake, Lexi, Owen and Johnny with her to look for medicinal plants. I stay with Amy while Jay leads a group for hunting and Clare takes a group to the beach. Thankfully Amy sleeps a lot of the day because when she's not asleep she's complaining about her leg and the pain she's in. Helen's group does return late in the evening with many plants. Helen has them separated by plants she knows are medicinal and safe, and plants she believes to be medicinal but she can't positively identify. She says she'll need to do some experimenting with the plants she can't identify. Experimenting she will have to do that with the wild chickens we caught and have been able to keep in a makeshift pen.

At least with some medicinal plants Helen is able to make a tea to reduce Amy's pain so she's not complaining so much. However, it becomes obvious over the next few days that Amy's leg is not healing well and Helen begins to worry we have to amputate. She does what she can but with limited resources, no anti-biotics or an x-ray to see the exact break there isn't a lot we can do. Helen is sure that Amy won't be able to walk on it again and she starts to worry about infection. I'm wondering if Amy is even going to make it, we have no idea how long we'll be here and now she's not very mobile. If she does get gangrene or an infection it's very possible she could die. Unfortunately Amy turns out not to be our biggest health emergency. A week after Amy breaks her leg, and while I'm in a sound sleep in the medical hut, we get awoken by Clare's urgent voice as she comes in.

"Mom, Mom wake up something's wrong with Fitz."

"What's wrong Honey?" Helen asks in a tired voice as she sits up.

"I don't know he's groaning and he has a fever," Clare replies.

"Have him come into the medical hut I'll take a look at him," Helen tells her with a yawn she's not quite awake yet.

"He doesn't want to move he's in too much pain," Clare responds.

"I'll help get him out of the hut and get a fire going so you can take a look at Fitz," I tell Helen and she nods. Following Clare to the second hut I can hear Fitz groaning from out here.

"We don't know what happened he just started, he won't let us look," Sean says. Jake is sitting with Fitz dabbing his head with a wet rag.

"Fitz, let's get you out to the fire so Helen can look at you," I say to him.

"It hurts to move," he groans.

"I know but Helen needs to see what's going on," I tell him.

Jake helps me slide Fitz to the door and carry him out. Clare and Sean follow us out but the others stay in the hut to get some sleep. Clare and Sean sit with Fitz while Jake and I start a fire and Helen comes out of the hut. With the fire going and some light for her to see Helen is able to do an exam.

"Peter can you help me prepare some medicine. Jake do what you can to get his fever down. Clare and Sean keep him talking and distracted," Helen says and I follow her into the medical hut. "It looks like acute appendicitis, I'm afraid it could be close to rupturing. If it comes to it I may have to operate but without proper sterilization, instruments and drugs he may die from the operation or an infection post-op."

 **Update will be up shortly, jumping ahead a couple of days. The next chapter will also be the last because thinking (realistically) about things for them to do on an island is hard. Also keeping track of everyone is rather difficult.**


	5. Once Was A Time I Thought

**Last chapter I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **As sometimes happens with last chapters it's not as long as a typical chapter.**

 **Ch. 5** **Once Was A Time I Thought**

 **(CLARE)**

"Hang on Fitz," I tell him mopping his brow with a wet cloth. He's been suffering through appendicitis for two days now.

"I'm going to have to operate, it will burst if I don't. Peter come with me I need you to gather some plants, they're narcotic but if we don't drug him I don't think he'll survive the surgery. Amy sit with Fitz, Clare you need to take a group to the beach," Mom asserts.

"But Mom I…"

"Fitz will need lots of protein and nutrients after the surgery," Mom says in a firm voice. Amy grumbles as she moves over while Mom forces Peter and I out of the huts. "Peter I'll need you to assist me with the surgery. We'll have to get Amy out of the hut and make it as sterile as we can."

"Will he be okay Mom?" I ask.

"We'll do all that we can," Mom says holding my arms and using her doctor voice. "Now take a team down to the beach. Gather lots of eggs, and fish he'll need broth and protein," Mom instructs and I nod reluctantly.

"Adam, Alli, Johnny, Bianca, Owen with me to the beach," I command and they follow me.

The whole walk down to the beach all I can think about is Fitz and hoping that he'll be alive when we return this evening. Everyone knows what to do and we set about gathering captured fish. Johnny and Bianca come with me to get eggs.

"Is that a ship?" Bianca says suddenly. Johnny and I look over to the ocean and we do indeed see a ship.

"Johnny run back to camp and tell them there's a ship. Bianca with me quickly," I insist dropping the sack of eggs. Johnny runs back to camp while Bianca and I run out to the shore. "There's a ship, quickly stoke the signal fires, throw on leaves we need a lot of smoke. Try to find something shiny, they won't be able to hear us from here," I tell everyone quickly.

They all look out to the water and when they see it's a ship go running. Adam and Alli run down to one signal fire while Owen, Bianca and I run to the other. We throw on more wood, leaves, vines, grass anything to cause smoke. Owen takes a stick and puts it into the fire, he then takes the burning stick and waves it around in the air. Bianca and I do the same, when Adam and Alli at the other end of the beach see what we're doing they also start waving around burning sticks. I hear people running and we're soon joined by everyone but Mom, Fitz, Amy and Peter. Jake and Dallas have cloths and Dallas runs to the other end of the beach. Using the cloths we make crude smoke signals.

"It's working, I think they see us! Look they're turning," Sean says excitedly.

"They are they're turning! They see us!"

Similar cries are echoed down the beach. We watch as the ship approaches as close as it safely can. Lifeboats are set down and six men in three boats row to shore. The rest of us are cheering, it seems like a dream. For fear of a shared delusion I run over and hug one of the first men out of the boats. Either our shared delusion is very real or he's flesh and blood and I let out a relieved breath.

"Are you kids alone?" A man asks. I wasn't the only one to hug them everyone else is hugging or in some way touching the men, either from gratitude or to be sure they are real.

"Shipwrecked, the Fanga Dagen," Jake replies.

"The Fanga Dagen, how'd you get here? An alert was issued but no sign of the ship or survivors was found. Is this everyone?"

"Most of us but we have a girl with a broken leg and a boy with an appendix about to erupt," I tell them urgently.

"Jim, Will, Kevin and Mike get the sick and injured first. We have a surgeon on the ship and a well-equipped infirmary," one orders, he must be in charge.

"I'll take you," Jake says and they follow him.

"What about the rest of you? Do you have much to take?"

"No this is pretty much it, we made a sort of camp but we lost most everything when the ship went down," I reply.

"Can you take us to your camp?" The one in charge asks me.

"Yes," I nod.

"Sam take the other girls back to the ship and alert the captain we found the survivors of the Fanga Dagen. Then return we may need you," the man orders the other one and he nods. "You boys can wait on the beach or come with us to the camp but we will get you all to the ship."

Everyone follows us back to camp. Fitz is being quickly brought down on a makeshift gurney. Mom is following him, they'll go straight to the ship and hopefully save Fitz's life. Amy is out of the hut and another man is carrying her down to the lifeboat. The rest of us look around the camp but there isn't anything we want to take, we lost most everything when the ship went down. The only thing I want to do is to bring my sister's body home.

"My sister, she passed away here on the island last month, can we bring her home?" I ask the man. He's taking pictures of our camp with his cell phone.

"Let's get you all back to the ship and talk to the captain, I'm sure we can bring her," he says putting a hand on my shoulder.

Returning to the beach Jake, Owen, Peter, Jay and I get into a lifeboat with one of the men and begin rowing to the ship. Part of me still thinks this is a dream, as the ship gets closer I hold my breath. When I'm brought on board, when my feet touch the metal floor of the ship I let out that breath, it's real we've been rescued!

 **(PETER)**

"It will be good to see Mom again, and Fitz," Clare says looking out the window of the plane.

Eight days ago we were rescued from the small uncharted island and the freighter ship that found us took us to Guam. That is all of us but Fitz and Helen, the on board surgeon was able to save Fitz's life and remove his appendix but he developed sepsis, he and Helen were airlifted from the ship to Tokyo. He's still in the hospital there, Helen with him and looking after him. The rest of us have been in Guam the last two days, we all spent the time in hospital being checked out by doctors. Amy's leg was looked at, the doctors commended us for doing what we did. They did however have to re-break the leg to set it properly, put a pin in her ankle and now she's in a cast and a wheelchair. She also complains any chance she gets but she's been doing that since we set off from Victoria Harbor.

Even having to be in the hospital it was nice to eat food we didn't have to gather or hunt ourselves, even if it was hospital food. We were told at the hospital that many reporters were interested in our story but they had all been kept away from us in Guam so we could recover, mostly because a lot of the kids are still minors. Everyone's families had been contacted as well, we'd be in Tokyo two days and then flown to Toronto where our families would meet us.

"Welcome Kids," says a well-dressed man when we disembark from the plane in Tokyo. "I am Ambassador James Kelley. I will take you to the hotel where you will be staying while in Tokyo. A press conference has been scheduled for tomorrow, none of you need be present or speak to the press but you may if you wish so. Come now let's get you all to the hotel."

We get into a bus and are taken to the hotel, a very nice hotel in fact. We are paired off and sharing rooms, I'm sharing with Jake, and Clare is sharing with Alli just across the hall from us. The ambassador tells us to get settled and we'll be meeting for dinner in an hour.

"It still doesn't quite feel real, the rescue and everything," Jake comments as we lie on the beds.

"We were on the island for three months but in some ways it felt like years," I agree.

There isn't really anything for us to unpack. The crew of the ship that rescued us donated some of their clothes to us, toothbrushes and other basics. When we reached Guam we were given some other clothes and basic toiletries. We all have one or two changes of clothes now, and the toiletries we need for every day. Darcy's remains were unearthed and taken on the ship in the freezer, in Guam the remains were shipped home. They'll be there for us to bury properly when we return.

When there's a knock on the door Jake opens it and let's Clare in. She tells us Alli is calling her parents, most of the kids are. Since there really isn't anyone for us to call Clare sits on Jake's bed with him and we watch Japanese TV until we're called to come down for dinner. All of us are quite happy to see Helen when we get downstairs to the dining room and she hugs the three of us.

"Where's Fitz?" Clare asks.

"Still at the hospital, don't worry the doctors say he'll make a full recovery. He'll be flying back with us but the doctors thought it best that he remain in the hospital until we leave," Helen tells us.

"I'm glad he's going to be okay," Clare smiles.

Helen kisses her forehead and we sit down to eat. The ambassador we met earlier is eating with us, as is a press liaison who talks about the press conference tomorrow. Helen has a room with us at the hotel, and as much as we'd like to explore Tokyo most of us are so exhausted after everything that we've been through and all the travel in the last couple of days, we go up to our rooms after dinner. I take a shower before going to bed, it was one of the first things we all did when we reached Guam, after being checked out by the doctors and eating we took long hot showers. Not that we didn't get clean on the island but bathing in the pond was not as nice as a long, hot shower.

When the phone rings at nine the next morning it wakes us up. Someone tells me breakfast is ready for us in the dining room downstairs. I yawn and hang up the phone, wake up Jake and tell him we need to get up for breakfast. I'm sure the others got the same call so we get up, get dressed and ready and go down to breakfast. Helen is not here but we are told she's working with the Canadian ambassador to arrange travel for all the families to Toronto to get the kids, and travel home for all of them since everyone is pretty spread out across Canada.

After breakfast we meet with the press liaison again about the press conference. None of us wish to take part in the press conference but most of us prepare statements. We know the press, and the world, is interested in our ordeal but we're still processing ourselves. We do watch the press conference from the hotel and the liaison does well in reading our statements and answering the questions. After the press conference we're taken on a guided tour of Tokyo. It seems odd to me but we're recognized, our pictures are taken. We have dinner at a very nice and very expensive Japanese restaurant before returning to the hotel.

Tomorrow we return to Canada, home for most but for Helen, Clare, Jake and I our home went down to the ocean floor. The Fanga was our home for so many years it's not the same, still we have a home in Vancouver, but without Darcy and Glen will it feel the same? Whether it's these thoughts or just the anxiety of returning home, of facing all the families after all that happened, I spend a restless night unable to sleep. Still awake when when we get our wakeup call, our flight leaves at 6:30AM so we're woken up early.

"Hey Fitz," I smile when I see him at the airport, "how do you feel?"

"A lot better, they said I was lucky it was close," Fitz grins and Clare hugs him.

We don't even go through security and we're being escorted by Canadian army in a plane that contains only us. Again it seems weird but we're getting home and that's all that matters. It's a twelve hour flight and after not sleeping last night I do fall asleep on the plane. I sleep the whole way I don't wake up until they announce that we're landing. I sit up and look at the Toronto lights. We're escorted off the plane and into a room where families are waiting. Adam and Drew's parents are the first to rush to them and hug them, Alli's parents and brother next. Even my mom is here but I don't speak to my father anymore. Helen's sister is here to welcome her and Clare back, while the parents are hugging the kids and the families are reuniting I follow Helen, Clare and Jake who are being escorted out by a gentleman in a suit.

"There will be an inquest next month, don't worry you can't control the weather we know you weren't at fault. All the survivors including yourselves will need to provide statements. Lawyers will be in touch with all of you. Right now you should all go home and get some rest," he tells us.

Mom puts her arm around me and we walk down to the car, I hug Helen, Clare and Jake before leaving. Helen and the kids are staying with her sister tonight, Mom and I are in a hotel for the night, tomorrow we fly to her home in Regina.

I do fly back to Regina with Mom the next morning, after breakfast with Helen, Clare and Jake. I stay with Mom a few days before flying out to Vancouver and meeting the rest of the Edwards clan. They pick me up from the airport and take me to their house. We'd all stay here when not on the ship, which wasn't much. I shared a room with Darcy and it's weird to be back in this room without her but it's nice to be back with the Edwards.

The following day, Saturday, we go to the cemetery. We're having a memorial today for both Glen and Darcy, and a proper burial for Darcy. Glen's body was buried at sea, not that we had a choice. When we get to the chapel at the cemetery it's filled with Glen and Darcy's family and friends, other people wishing to pay tribute. Drew, Adam and their parents are here since they also live in Vancouver. It's good to see them, we hug them and their parents, it's different now because we know we're all safe.

The pastor talks about Darcy and Glen, he says a prayer and then Glen's brother gives a eulogy for both of them. A few other people speak and then we go out to the gravesites, Darcy's body in a coffin is lowered into the ground. They wouldn't let us see the body when they unearthed it and brought it to the ship because it had begun decomposing. Still it was a comfort to all of us to bring Darcy home with us.

One by one people toss in handfuls of dirt and roses, there's a headstone next to Darcy's for Glen. His headstone reads **Glen David Edwards Husband Father Friend Teacher** below that are the dates of his birth and death. At the top of the headstone is his portrait. There are many wreaths and flowers laid near his headstone. Darcy's Headstone is similar to Glen's with her full name instead of his of course, her portrait and dates of birth and death. Only the middle part is different on hers, it reads: **Daughter Sister Teacher Friend Open Heart** the last part was my addition. As the pastor begins to say another prayer, while dirt is shoveled onto Darcy's coffin, Clare begins to sob. I put my arm around her and hold her close and tight letting her sob against my chest.

"It's okay Clare, they aren't gone, not really. They both live on in us and we won't let their legacy die."

 ******EPILOGUE******

 **(FITZ)**

Adjusting my suit jacket I enter the Maritime Museum of British Columbia. I hear the crowd but before I enter I check myself over in the glass of an exhibit. Entering the room is like stepping back in time. It was over a year ago I first got off that bus at Ogden Point in Victoria Harbor. It was exactly a year ago that the storm hit and our ship went down, that's why we're all here today. Well, all of us but Amy that is. Amy and her parents tried to sue the Edwards for the ship going down and Amy breaking her leg! They tried to say that Amy's problems she now has with her leg are Helen's fault. Not even the families of the dead tried to sue, everyone else understood that the Edwards can't control the weather and the waves. Everyone else understood that the Edwards family did all they could to help us and without them we probably would have died. Amy and her parents lost the suit, as I heard it they were practically laughed out of court, the judge said if Helen and the others hadn't treated her leg Amy would have even more problems now. Besides which all the parents signed contracts stating they understood the dangers of open sea travel. As far as I know As far as I know Amy and her parents disappeared into obscurity, after the suit they stopped talking to reports, but I know why they aren't here today. The rest of us are here today though, some with their families, some alone but we're all here.

"Fitz," Owen smiles when he sees me.

"Hey Owen," I grin.

"These are my parents and my younger brother Tristan," Owen tells me introducing me to the people with him.

"Nice to meet you," I smile at them.

"Can you believe it's been a year?" Owen asks.

"No, not at all and I almost died."

"Yeah, well you look great," Owen says.

"Welcome everyone," a man says into a microphone, "please sit and we'll begin."

"You should sit with us," Owen comments. I follow Owen and his family sitting with him, on the other side of me is Lexi. She and I smile to each other in greeting as we sit.

"Welcome to the Maritime Museum of British Columbia, we are honored to host the survivors of the Fanga Dagen and their families. A year ago today a terrible storm led to the tragic taking of lives both with the ship and after it's decent to the darkness of the ocean depths. Glen Edwards; taken tragically by injury soon after the ship went down. His oldest Daughter Darcy taken by illness after reaching the island that became home for the next few months. Bruce Zavitz, Fiona Coyne, Zig Novak and Zoe Rivas taken by the storm along with the ship. Today we have Bruce's parents, Fiona's parents and twin brother Declan, Zig's parents and his younger brother, and Zoe's mom with us to celebrate the survivors and honor those who were lost. Their bodies may be lost to the sea, become part of the cycle of life but their spirits live on. They will all be missed, the Fanga Dagen was a beautiful ship and it's a tragic loss, the whole thing is tragic but you survivors and all the families should be proud. We honor today the dead and the ship and the memories they all hold in our hearts. Be proud of this last year and all you've done. I am honored to present this full scale model of the Fanga Dagen to the museum," he says and pulls a sheet off a glass case. Everyone sees it and claps. "In a moment I invite you all to come take a closer look at the exhibit you'll see a nameplate for each of you, and one for each of the dead. Now please enjoy the exhibit, the museum and the delicious buffet."

The man steps down from the small stage, people clap and then slowly get up. I follow Owen and is family to the model of the Fanga Dagen. It's an exact model and I see my nameplate, Owen finds his. Glen's name plate has **Ship's Captain** under it and Darcy's says **Crew Member** , likewise Helen, Peter, Jake and Clare's nameplates list their positions on the ship. The rest of us have **Student** under our names, and everyone that died has **Deceased** under that.

"Clare," I smile when I see her face peering across the glass. She looks at me and Owen and smiles back before hugging us tightly.

"It's good to see you both," she grins.

"You too, you look good," Owen says.

"What have you guys been doing this last year? We know your family was cleared in the inquest and Amy's family lost their suit," I remark.

"Yeah, are you guys going to get another ship and start the school again?" Owen asks.

"We thought about it, the Fanga was insured and the money would have been more than enough to get another ship. But without Dad and Darcy it wouldn't have been the same. We bought some land not far from here, 200 acres in the woods and we're still going to run the school, just in a different way. Having to survive on the island gave us an idea, no shipwreck but we'll take kids into the woods build shelters, farm food, learn to work together and school on top of it. We open next year," Clare tells us.

"Hey that's great sounds like it will be good. Do you need any help? Getting ready or running it? I graduated this summer, been wondering what to do," I tell her.

"Yeah me too I'd like to help," Owen nods.

"Me too," Jay agrees.

"Same here," Lexi says.

"And me," Sean nods.

"We'd love to have you all. We could use everyone. Drew and Adam have been helping us get ready and they'll be helping us next year," Clare tells us wearing a huge smile that makes her eyes sparkle.

"Count me in," Bianca comments coming over to us.

"Yeah, I'm in," Johnny says coming over near Bianca.

"Hey Mom," Clare calls and Helen comes over along with Jake and Peter, "we got more help."

"Wonderful, we're glad to have you all," Helen smiles putting an arm around Sean and one around Owen as they are closest to her. "The dream lives on, in a different way but with more hearts and helping hands. Glen and Darcy, everyone would be very proud."

 **I hope you enjoyed this adventure story. Replacing this will be a suspense story I call** _ **Shadow, Snow & Blood.**_


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